Not so fast: RDA wants to talk to INDOT on Cline Avenue

The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority added its voice to a growing chorus Tuesday, calling for the Indiana Department of Transportation to reconsider its "no-bridge" plan for Cline Avenue.

The development agency passed a motion by a 5-0 vote that expresses concern over the plan and especially its lack of direct access to Gary/Chicago International Airport from Chicago. The motion also called for a meeting with INDOT to discuss those concerns.

"The airport's potential cannot be reached unless we improve highway access to the airport," RDA Chairman Leigh Morris said. "I would defy you to find any successful airport where you have to go through the tortuous route that you do to get to Gary/Chicago airport," Morris said.

Morris' comment came after Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. described taking the bypass INDOT has outlined for the new route, which currently includes two 90-degree turns, five sets of railroad tracks and a drawbridge that sometimes goes up.

"This is a disagreement," McDermott said. "It really is. I'm not getting political. It's a quality-of-life issue."

Right now, loaded semitrailers are streaming down Calumet Avenue into Hammond and wandering lost in its neighborhoods, McDermott said. He doesn't think that will change under INDOT's plan.

Less than one week ago, INDOT announced it would not rebuild the Cline Avenue bridge but instead would build new ramps on each side of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal to facilitate the movement of cars and trucks to a drawbridge on Dickey Road.

The Cline Avenue bridge has been closed since Nov. 13, when the state acted on an inspection report showing the bridge had become dangerously weakened.

The plan INDOT unveiled last week was diametrically opposite a recommendation from region mayors and businesses submitted to the transportation agency less than one month ago. That recommendation called for rebuilding the bridge, as well as better connecting East Chicago neighborhoods with the lakefront.

It also called for new ramps from the Indiana Toll Road to Cline Avenue to facilitate access to the airport from the east.

At Tuesday's meeting, RDA member Pete Novak, an appointee of the Hammond mayor, made a motion calling for the RDA to oppose INDOT's plan for Cline Avenue. But the motion failed to gain a second.

His motion was replaced with one calling on the RDA to meet with INDOT to discuss the lack of access for the airport and other concerns including access to the lakefront. That's the motion that passed.

RDA Chairman Morris is also a deputy commissioner of INDOT and until now had removed himself from involvement in the discussions over Cline Avenue. On Tuesday, he said he was speaking out as chairman of the RDA and not as an INDOT official.