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BY DEBORAH LAVERTY
Times Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 14, 2004 | (No comments posted.)
MERRILLVILLE -- The town's most dangerous stretch of road -- U.S. 30 from Broadway to Whitcomb Street -- may be eligible for funding to make it safer, a town official said Tuesday.
Town Councilman Shawn Pettit, D-6th, said he and Town Manager Rick Dal Corobbo learned about the availability of hazard elimination safety funds at a Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission meeting they attended earlier in the day.
To qualify for the money, local officials must fill out paperwork that includes statistics indicating why the area is hazardous and a history of crashes by type and severity. The stretch of road has been the site of eight fatalities and more than 1,100 accidents since 2000, including one fatality two weeks ago.
Pettit and the rest of the Town Council agreed to contact the Indiana Department of Transportation to request a traffic feasibility study along U.S. 30. The study would look at the possibility of eliminating median crossovers, which allow motorists to cut across traffic at areas near the Kmart plaza and the Lake County Public Library.
"There's been eight fatalities on U.S. 30 since 2000, including the most recent one. It's time we step up and take a firm stand," Pettit said.
Town Council President Joe Shudick said he has received a tremendous amount of positive public response since announcing last week he planned to look at ways to reduce the number of accidents on U.S. 30.
In addition to the eight fatalities, Merrillville police statistics indicate there have been 1,177 accidents and 237 injuries along U.S. 30 from Broadway to Whitcomb Street between the start of 2000 and July 7.
Shudick said he has received numerous calls from officials wanting to help, including calls from state Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, and state Sen. Rose Ann Antich-Carr, D-Merrillville.
As a volunteer firefighter, Shudick was one of the first to arrive at the scene of a June 30 accident on U.S. 30 just east of Taft Street that claimed the life of Christina Spivak, 20, of Schererville.
Spivak was a passenger in a white Mazda headed eastbound on U.S. 30 that had stopped to make a left turn into the Saturn dealership where she worked.
Because heavy traffic had backed up the two center lanes on U.S. 30, obstructing the vision of many drivers, another motorist signaled the Mazda to turn left, police said. As the Mazda began to turn, a brown Dodge Durango broadsided it. Spivak died a short time later at an area hospital.
Shudick said the town will look at other ways to tackle the problem, including the possibility of utilizing the hazard elimination safety funds.
"We're still in the (information) gathering stage but we understand that money is available," he said.
Deborah Laverty can be reached at dlaverty@nwitimes.com or (219) 662-5324.
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