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 Post subject: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:32 pm 
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Ready to roll on trail

C.P. kicks into gear work on Erie-Lackawanna path



CROWN POINT | After more than 10 years and three Crown Point mayoral administrations, gold-tipped shovels broke ground Monday morning on the city's portion of the Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.

At a news conference attended by city officials, project officials and bike enthusiasts, Mayor David Uran announced details of the 1.7-mile trail. Work by Dyer Construction will begin next week, and the trail is scheduled to open in late summer or early fall.

"It's a quality of life issue for those who live here or those who want to connect through here," Uran said.

The trailhead will be at the intersection of Court and Summit streets, and the trail will pass by 18 acres that local developer Jim Hawk donated for a new park. The park will be named for Charles and Mable Swisher, longtime Crown Point residents, Uran said.

"I've always worked well with the city," Hawk said. "Athletics had an impact on my life, and the park can help people get outside."

Crown Point's trail will connect to 15 miles of trail that continue up through Hammond, said Mitch Barloga, a nonmotorized transportation and greenways planner with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission. Barloga worked under former Mayor James Metros and secured $700,000 in funding for the trail.

"Within two to five years, you should be able to start in here and go to Chicago without ever getting on a street," Barloga said, referencing other trail systems that are in the works.

Uran said the cost of the project is $1.9 million, with about $1.1 million coming from federal Transportation Enhancement matching funds. The transportation money is part of 80/20 matching deal that requires the city to pay 20 percent, or about $320,000, into the project.

The trail also received about $382,000 in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act money, which allowed organizers to use some of the transportation money to create the trailhead and help construct Charles and Mable Swisher Park.

Alan Hamersly, a site development and greenways division manager with Butler, Fairman & Seufert, designed and redesigned the trail, working with the project since 1999.

"It does feel really good," Hamersly said Monday. "I can't wait until it's finished."

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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 6:27 am 
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I use this trail a lot and I am glad to see the improvement :D !

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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 12:45 pm 
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Pedaling to the end
By Susan Erler

CROWN POINT | A nearly two-mile extension set to open late next month will bring a countywide bike trail nearly to the city's downtown.

The extension of the Erie Lackawanna trail runs west of Main Street from behind the Lake County Government Complex at the city's northern boundary, south to West Summit Street. From there, it's just a short sprint south on Court Street into the downtown square.

"It takes you right into the downtown," Crown Point Parks Director Jennie Burgess said.

Work got under way in March on the project, which has been funded since 2001. It ran into delays typical for bike paths, said Mitch Barloga, a staff member with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission who directs the agency's trails program.

Agreements had to be worked out with adjoining property owners along the path, and the project went on through several city mayoral administrations, Barloga said.

Image

A recently installed bridge had to be built to span a portion of Beaver Dam Creek, which runs across the bike trail's path.

"There was all sorts of back and forth, which is more common than not when you use federal money," he said.

The nearly $2 million project was paid from 80 percent federal funding and a combination of other sources, Barloga said. It's an extension of bike trail that runs along an abandoned rail line from the north side of Crown Point into downtown Hammond.

Future plans are for the trail and its offshoots to carry bicyclists beyond Northwest Indiana.

"Within five years you might be able to ride off road from Crown Point to the border of Chicago without ever getting on a road," Barloga said. "It's about a 40-mile contiguous ride."

The trail's extension into Crown Point provides "another avenue of recreation" in the city, Crown Point's Burgess said.

"You'll now be able to get off on West Summit Street, go downtown, have lunch and shop," Burgess said. "It's been a long time coming, and we're excited to have it."

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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:31 pm 
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According to some Hammond residents, parks aren't important.


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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:44 pm 
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karent wrote:
According to some Hammond residents, parks aren't important.



Quite the contrary. Parks are not important to the current administration in Hammond, with the exception of the baseball fields. Every other park in Hammond is ill-kept, trash strewn, and in general disrepair.

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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 7:19 pm 
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Freedom Fighter wrote:
karent wrote:
According to some Hammond residents, parks aren't important.



Quite the contrary. Parks are not important to the current administration in Hammond, with the exception of the baseball fields. Every other park in Hammond is ill-kept, trash strewn, and in general disrepair.


See in Crown Point we have a large number of families with with lots of children from toddlers to HS, they tend to complain if thing are not kept clean especially since they are all relatively new, compared to the industrialized old rust belt in the Northern part of the county.

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“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 7:27 pm 
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Our park system was well-kept under the previous administration. The park system is not newer, but the parks used to be quite enjoyable.

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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:21 pm 
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Freedom Fighter wrote:
Our park system was well-kept under the previous administration. The park system is not newer, but the parks used to be quite enjoyable.

condolences

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“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:46 pm 
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C.P. leg of bike trail may link with Ill. path

CROWN POINT | It's only a first step, but a study recently undertaken by city officials intends to put Crown Point on the map of a bike trail eventually extending to the Chicago lakefront.

The city in December agreed to a $5,000 contract with RQAW, an Indianapolis-based consulting and engineering firm, for initial work planning the Pennsy Greenway Trail through Crown Point.

A master plan has the Pennsy trail stretching from Crown Point northwest through Schererville and Dyer, connecting with a Munster segment, and then into Illinois through Lansing, Burnham and north past Wolf Lake. Eventually, the Chicago Lakeshore Trail is to extend southward to join it.

"It's such a broad and visionary concept," said Mitch Barloga, a hike- and bike-trail planner with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

The Crown Point segment of the trail is expected to carve a path northwest out of the city near the White Hawk development, Barloga said.

The existing Erie-Lackawanna Trail will connect with the Pennsy Trail most likely at 93rd Avenue west of the Lake County government complex, Barloga said.

The ambitious regional project includes work by neighboring Schererville, whose six-mile segment will be the longest of local communities, Barloga said.

Schererville's first two-mile section is being built between Town Hall, on Joliet Street, and Rorhman Park, southeast of the town, Barloga said.

A segment of the trail through Munster's Centennial Park already is completed, and eventually will connect with Schererville at Town Hall, Barloga said.

It's expected within 10 years bicyclists can travel the entire route between Northwest Indiana and the Chicago lakefront without ever leaving a bike path, Barloga said.

Planning for the Pennsy Trail segment in Crown Point comes on the heels of the city's recent completion of a two-mile addition to the Erie-Lackawanna Trail taking it from 93rd Avenue south to near the city's downtown.

"We're looking forward to the process again," city parks director Jennie Burgess said.

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“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
P.J. O'Rourke


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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:49 am 
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edited

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Last edited by paul87920 on Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 1:31 pm 
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paul87920 wrote:
We can only hope the trail is built away from the relatively new meth labs.


Such a quick wit, it only took you 4 months to come up with that.

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“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
P.J. O'Rourke


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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:04 pm 
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-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:
C.P. leg of bike trail may link with Ill. path

CROWN POINT | It's only a first step, but a study recently undertaken by city officials intends to put Crown Point on the map of a bike trail eventually extending to the Chicago lakefront.

The city in December agreed to a $5,000 contract with RQAW, an Indianapolis-based consulting and engineering firm, for initial work planning the Pennsy Greenway Trail through Crown Point.

A master plan has the Pennsy trail stretching from Crown Point northwest through Schererville and Dyer, connecting with a Munster segment, and then into Illinois through Lansing, Burnham and north past Wolf Lake. Eventually, the Chicago Lakeshore Trail is to extend southward to join it.

"It's such a broad and visionary concept," said Mitch Barloga, a hike- and bike-trail planner with the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

The Crown Point segment of the trail is expected to carve a path northwest out of the city near the White Hawk development, Barloga said.

The existing Erie-Lackawanna Trail will connect with the Pennsy Trail most likely at 93rd Avenue west of the Lake County government complex, Barloga said.

The ambitious regional project includes work by neighboring Schererville, whose six-mile segment will be the longest of local communities, Barloga said.

Schererville's first two-mile section is being built between Town Hall, on Joliet Street, and Rorhman Park, southeast of the town, Barloga said.

A segment of the trail through Munster's Centennial Park already is completed, and eventually will connect with Schererville at Town Hall, Barloga said.

It's expected within 10 years bicyclists can travel the entire route between Northwest Indiana and the Chicago lakefront without ever leaving a bike path, Barloga said.

Planning for the Pennsy Trail segment in Crown Point comes on the heels of the city's recent completion of a two-mile addition to the Erie-Lackawanna Trail taking it from 93rd Avenue south to near the city's downtown.

"We're looking forward to the process again," city parks director Jennie Burgess said.
Access to the bike trail is one of the reasons I am moving to that area...

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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 11:26 am 
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Funding released for C.P. bike trail flooding fix

Bicyclists wait for the new Crown Point section of the Erie-Lakawanna Bike Trail to open.

CROWN POINT | Officials have released funding for a fix to flooding problems on the Crown Point bike trail extension, Mayor David Uran said.

A change order was approved Tuesday by federal highway officials permitting some of the dollars assigned to construction of amenities along the bike trail to be used to correct flooding, Uran said.

A drainage system will be installed at an estimated cost of up to $50,000.

Butler Fairman and Seufert, the engineering firm that designed the trail, will work with Dyer Construction, which built it, to get the drainage project under way, Uran said.

No start date for the project has been set.

The extension opened in November, taking the Erie Lackawanna Trail south of 93rd Avenue nearly to the Crown Point downtown, from its start at the Little Calumet River in Hammond.

Federal dollars covered 80 percent of the $2 million cost of the extension, with the rest coming from a mix of sources.

Flooding occurred along parts of the extension especially after heavy rains, making the trail impassable in some areas.

Trail heads and parking facilities at locations on the extension will be paid out of about $630,000 in remaining funding, Uran said.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake ... z1QmUxlNep

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“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 11:18 am 
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C.P. Public Works panel OKs contract for trailhead design

CROWN POINT | The Crown Point Board of Public Works and Safety approved agreements with the firm Butler Fairman Seufert for trailhead work on the Erie Lackawanna bike trail extension.

The board will pay the firm $37,900 to design the Summit Street trailhead.

The board also approved an amendment to an earlier contract with the firm adding payment of $16,000 for the environmental study of the 93rd Avenue and Chase Street trailhead.

The project is being financed with federal transportation enhancement funding.

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“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
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 Post subject: Re: Erie-Lackawanna bike trail.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:47 am 
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Plans take shape for improvements along Crown Point bike trail extension

Image

CROWN POINT | Plans are taking shape for enhancements along the Erie Lackawanna bike trail in Crown Point.

Design renderings show a red-roofed picnic shelter and decorative green space and a paved lot to replace existing parking on bare ground near the Summit Street entrance to the trail.

Cyclists and walkers will have to wait until next year for the additions while the project goes through the planning process, officials said.

The city is working with engineering design firm Butler Fairman Seufert to use federal funding left over from the 2010 construction of the nearly two-mile bike trail extension.

"We all wish construction could get done quicker," Mayor David Uran said.

The use of federal dollars and the need to acquire neighboring NIPSCO rights of way added steps to the process, he said.

It is hoped construction on the Summit Street entrance could begin in late spring, Uran said.

A second improved access point — or trailhead — planned at 93rd Avenue likely won't get under way until 2014, said Peter Kohut, an engineer for Butler Fairman Seufert.

The 93rd Avenue trailhead will be planned with fewer enhancements than the Summit Street access point, which is nearer to the heart of the city's downtown, Kohut said.

Included in the plans are a roundabout, or circular intersection, on 93rd Avenue near the entry to the bike trail.

An early concept places the roundabout on the north side of 93rd Avenue, just east of Chase Street, replacing a sharp turn where 93rd Avenue intersects Chase Street near the Lake County Government Complex.

The new design is intended to improve traffic safety at the intersection and make it easier and safer to get onto the bike trail. A sidewalk along 93rd Avenue from Chase to Main streets is part of the plan.

Funding from the federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Improvement program was expected to cover 75 percent of the cost of the roundabout. A cost estimate was not available.

The Crown Point segment of the bike trail runs north-south along the city's west side. The $2 million project was paid from 80 percent federal funding and a combination of other sources.

The full Erie Lackawanna trail runs along an abandoned rail line between Crown Point and the Little Calumet River in Hammond.

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“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
P.J. O'Rourke


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