Planners are revising their recommendations for U.S. 30 improvements between Valparaiso and the Ohio state line. The ProPEL U.S. 30 study seeks to provide a range of options the Indiana Department of Transportation can explore in future calls for projects.
A recommended option for the segments between State Road 49 and U.S. 421 is an "expressway lite" approach. That would still allow right turns in and out of driveways, with traffic having to make a U-turn to turn left.
But project manager Scott Sandstrom with CDM Smith says that idea has drawn a lot of comments from Wanatah-area residents, who are concerned about losing access. "In particular, we heard that access for emergency vehicles and the general public across U.S. 30 for Wanatah residents, in particular, to connect the town, is very important to them," Sandstrom told the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission's Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
He said many of those who submitted comments would prefer to see U.S. 30 left as it is, "mainly, out of the concern for what improvements could do to local town character, as well as economic impact."
In response, Sandstrom said planners have been looking at ways to maintain access across U.S. 30 and reduce distances to U-turn locations. "At this time, no decisions have been made about the future of U.S. 30 or 31 in the ProPEL U.S. 30 West study, and no projects related to the [planning and environmental linkages study] have been funded by INDOT," Sandstrom said. "A stated goal of the PEL study process is the identification of a range of reasonable alternatives."
He said the project team continues to hold community office hours. One is scheduled for May 20 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Valparaiso Fire Training Station on Evans Avenue. Sandstrom said they hope to wrap up the study soon.
