Northwest Indiana Discussion

Some of you guys and gals are old enough to remember the old truck routes through the region and how truckers would stop and bring revenue to all the small business.

There was too much money and it was legitimate after the massive expressways and avenues were built some communities have lost tremendous revenue while others have made a killing off the traffic.

Gary has 5 massive trucks stops and numerous massive trucking companies and building more.

Who should be blamed for the lack of vision in Hammond and East Chicago?

Lack of vision or foresight. Would you stop at one of those Truck Stops at 11:00 on a Friday night? Why isn't there a truck stop in Portage,Chesterton or Michigan City?

A lot of good those massive truck stops have done for Gary. The place is a wasteland and will remain so for decades. Whatever revenue they may generate is squandered on jobs for relatives and friends of politicians, pointless agencies, and non-productive trips for municipal officials. They probably have been a boon to the prostitution and drug trades though....making Gary an exceptionally attractive place to set up shop if you are a gang member.

Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...

The reason why I started doing my videos on the bridges of Gary Indiana I drove over a bridge in Gary on 4th Avenue / Industrial Avenue going over the old Pen Central tracks when I drove over it the bridge had a gap of 3 inches between lanes when I came back over it the gap was over a foot wide I called INDOT in Gary and the bridge was closed before the day was out and for almost over a year before the new bridge was opened.

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Post-Tribune, state legislator await data that led to closure of highway
Comments

December 1, 2009
BY GITTE LAASBY, (219) 648-2183

Two and a half weeks after the state closed a four-mile stretch of Cline Avenue, the Indiana Department of Transportation still has not released the report that led to the closure.

INDOT shut down the road between Calumet Avenue in Hammond and Michigan Avenue in East Chicago for safety on Nov. 13 after reading the report by the URS Corp. consulting company.

The report said structural parts of the elevated highway are severely corroded. Cline Avenue is expected to be closed for a minimum of six weeks.

The Post-Tribune requested the report two weeks ago, but has yet to receive the document.

"We are in the process of gathering the information you requested. As soon as I have the information I will send it to you. We ask for your patience during this time," INDOT spokeswoman Angie Fegaras said in an e-mail when the Post-Tribune requested an update Monday.

In response to the paper's initial request, Fegaras said, "We will try to produce all records as quickly and completely as possible. We work with reasonable speed to produce records -- given INDOT's workload and other records requests."

Stephen Key, attorney with the Hoosier State Press Association, said INDOT should explain the delay.

"They're not giving you a reason for why it's taking so long" to get the report, he said. "I'd think if they have a report, it shouldn't be that hard to give a copy of that report to you."

Because state law does not provide a deadline for releasing public records, it is determined on a case-by-case basis how much time is reasonable to respond, Key said.

Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, also requested the report from INDOT, but has not received it either.

"I expect to talk to the INDOT representatives myself (today) to see how soon we can get these reports released to the public," she said. "Or to see if there's any reason why they can't be released immediately."

Jane Jankowski, spokeswoman for Gov. Mitch Daniels, did not return a call for comment on the delay.

INDOT's Fegaras did not respond by deadline to an e-mail asking how much the state paid the consulting company to conduct the inspection and write the report.
State sits on Cline Avenue

While she was 'flying' down the road yesterday, a woman passed over a bridge only to find a cop with a radar gun on the other side lying in wait.

The cop pulled her over, walked up to the car, with that classic patronizing smirk we all know and love, asked, 'What's your hurry?'

To which she replied, 'I'm late for work.'

'Oh yeah,' said the cop, 'what do you do?'

I'm a rectum stretcher,' she responded.

The cop stammered, 'A what? A rectum stretcher? And just what does a rectum stretcher do?'

'Well,' she said, 'I start by inserting one finger, then work my way up to two fingers, then three, then four, then with my whole hand in. I work from side to side until I can get both hands in, and then I slowly but surely stretch it, until it's about 6 feet wide.'

'And just what the hell do you do with a 6 foot a$$hole? ' he asked.

'You give him a radar gun and park him behind a bridge...'

Traffic Ticket - $95.00
Court Costs - $45.00
Look on the Cop's Face.................PRICELESS

There is a truck in Michigan city and it is not very big not much business.

The same reason Chicago lost the Olympics if you don't offer the traveler what he wants then they will go where they can get it Rio offered the worlds most beautiful women and all the cheap drugs you could ever want and a party atmosphere all Chicago was offering was riot control and a police state .

In the parking lots of the truck stops in Gary there is big business going on to the delight of the truckers and not one has been murdered YET!

I have been to those truck stops late night no one is fool enough to mess with anyone because there are too many people carrying concealed weapons trucker included.

A Catholic priest, a Protestant minister, and a Jewish rabbi were discussing when life begins.

"Life begins," said the priest, "at the moment of fertilization. That is when God instills the spark of life into the fetus."

"We believe," said the minister, "that life begins at birth, because that is when the baby becomes an individual and is capable of making its own decisions and must learn about sin."

"You've both got it wrong," said the rabbi. "Life begins when the children have graduated from college and moved out of the house."

CATHOLIC HORSES.



One day while he was at the track playing

the ponies and all but losing his shirt, Mitch

noticed a priest who stepped out onto

the track and blessed the forehead of one of the

horses lining up for the 4th race. Lo and behold,

that horse - a very long shot - won the race..

Before the next race, as the horses began lining up,

Mitch watched with Interest the old

priest step onto the track.

Sure enough, as the 5th race horses came to the

starting gate the priest made a blessing on the

forehead of one of the horses.

Mitch made a bee line for a betting window and

placed a small bet on the horse. Again, even

though it was another long s hot, the horse the

priest had blessed won the race.

Mitch collected his winnings, and anxiously waited

to see which horse the priest would bless

for the 6th race. The priest again blessed a horse.

Mitch bet big on it, and it won. Mitch was elated.

As the races continued the priest kept blessing

long shot horses, and each one ended up coming in first.

By and by, Mitch was pulling in some serious money.

By the last race, he knew his wildest dreams

were going to come true. He made a quick dash to

the ATM, withdrew all his savings, and awaited the

priests blessing that would tell him which horse to bet on.

True to his pattern, the priest stepped onto the track for

the last race and blessed the forehead of an old nag that

was the longest shot of the day. Mitch also observed

the priest blessing the eyes, ears, and hooves of the old nag.

Mitch knew he had a winner and bet every cent he owned on

the old nag.

He then watched dumbfounded as the old nag come in dead

last. Mitch, in a state of shock, made his way down to the

track area where the priest was.

Confronting the old priest he demanded, "Father! What

happened? All day long you blessed horses and they all won.

Then in the last race, the horse you blessed lost by a Kentucky MILE.

Now, thanks to you I've lost every cent of my savings - all of it!"

The priest nodded wisely and with sympathy. "Son," he said,

"that's the problem with you Protestants. You can't tell the

difference between a simple blessing and last rites."

Cline report weighs options: fix or raze

Engineering report cites structural deficiencies all along now-closed bridge


December 10, 2009
BY GITTE LAASBY, (219) 648-2183

The Cline Avenue bridge is so structurally deficient that the state might choose to tear down the bridge and build a new one rather than making repairs.

"Anywhere we go, we're talking a large sum of money. Do we want to spend a large amount of money and have a 20-year-old bridge that's been fixed or the same amount of money on a brand new?" said state bridge inspection engineer Bill Dittrich.

Dittrich said a consulting company has presented 12-20 possible options for the bridge's future, but he declined to provide cost estimates.

"There's a multimillion-dollar swing between various options," he said. "Either way, it's going to cause a lot of other projects not to be done because it's going to be expensive."

The now-closed bridge, commonly called the Cline Avenue extension, cost $240 million to build. It opened in October 1986.

In a Nov. 6 letter, the state's consulting firm, URS Corp., warned the Indiana Department of Transportation that it needed to reduce weight loads on the bridge to a maximum of 18 tons, restrict traffic from bridge shoulders, and "immediately begin retrofit and/or replacement evaluation and strengthening implementation to correct structural deficiencies."

"Failure to reduce loads on the bridge in accordance with URS' recommendations could result in a structural failure," URS structural engineer Robert Anderson wrote in the letter accompanying the report.

URS' evaluation of the bridge assumes the bridge is in its original condition and does not reflect reductions in load carrying capacity caused by degradation.

The Indiana Department of Transportation closed down a four-mile stretch of Cline Avenue between Calumet Avenue in Hammond and Michigan Avenue in East Chicago on Nov. 13. On Wednesday, nearly four weeks later, INDOT released the inspection report to the Post-Tribune.

Before receiving the latest inspection report, the state planned to retrofit the bridge, but that would be very expensive and lead to road closures for five to six years, Dittrich said. The state would also have to continue to spend a large amount every year on inspection and testing of the bridge, he said.

Why the 1986 bridge is in such bad shape is still a mystery.

"What caused this? Did someone get the input data wrong? Did they build the bridge differently than what the plans called for?" Dittrich said. "It's hard to know."

In April 1982, the Riley Road ramp portion of the project collapsed, killing 14 workers.

URS Corp. has inspected Cline Avenue for the past 2.5 years. The report by URS Corp. said structural parts of the elevated highway are severely corroded.

When it was closed in November, Cline Avenue was expected to be closed for at least six weeks, but Dittrich couldn't say when it might open back up. State officials are still contemplating how to proceed.

Leigh Morris, deputy commissioner of the INDOT Toll Road Oversight Committee Board, said plans for Cline Avenue must take into consideration several projects in the works, including lakeshore redevelopment, the Marquette plan, expansion of the Gary airport, high-speed rail and possible relocation of rail lines in the area.

"I think it behooves us at INDOT to be aware of those and make sure we take those into account and don't do anything that would subvert that," he said. "There may be a short-term solution to the Cline Avenue bridge situation and a longer-term solution. All of our thinking ought to be geared to both of those so we don't waste resources on a short-term solution, so they don't cause us problems as we work on a long-term solution."