SOUTH BEND — While maintaining that it hasn’t yet picked a new route through the Ardmore neighborhood, the South Shore Line expects to displace 35 to 40 households in that area as it cuts a faster path to South Bend International Airport, the commuter railroad’s president said Friday.
Ardmore residents can comment on the project through a new website launched Thursday, www.sbn-rail-reroute.com, or by calling a “project hotline” at (855)-SBN-RAIL, South Shore Line President Mike Noland announced at a press conference at the airport.
Ardmore is an unincorporated residential area just beyond South Bend’s western edge, situated between the airport and the existing rail line.
Friday’s event, held in the airport’s boardroom, was intended for news media, but that didn’t stop a handful of Ardmore residents from attending.
One of them, Rich Collins, urged the railroad to abandon its plans to build a new route somewhere between Oak Road and Lexington Avenue.
“We have a petition and everyone is signing it,” Collins said. “It’s going to be very hard for you to cross Edison Road. Very hard.”
The South Shore Line now passes the airport, heads north along Bendix Drive and doubles back west to its station at the airport.