Indian Boundary Road west of Ind. 49 sees 13,554 vehicles per day; east of Ind. 49, 14,402 vehicles.

And Ind. 49 south of 1100N sees fully 22,515 vehicles per day.

Those are the results of a traffic-count conducted as part of an engineering study which the Chesterton Redevelopment Commission is in the midst of, for the hopeful purpose of getting the Dickinson Road extension project included in the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission’s 2040 study. Such inclusion would make the project eligible for federal funding.

DLZ was retained to do the engineering study and at the commission’s meeting Monday night Mike Jabo of DLZ gave members a progress report, beginning with the traffic-count study. Jabo did say that some of the numbers, for Indian Boundary Road for example, may be somewhat atypically high, because the traffic-counters included vehicles during the Wizard of Oz weekend.

Numbers for some other roadways: Calumet Road (North and South) from Indian Boundary Road to Porter Ave., 8,516 vehicle per day; 1100N from 100E to Dickinson Road, 9,049; East Porter Ave. between South Calumet Road and Ind. 49, 6,154; East Porter Ave. between Ind. 49 and 250E, 3,552.

The next step, Jabo said, will be to collect average traffic speeds for each roadway link in the study area.

Then, when all traffic data are collected, NIRPC will use them to adjust its own traffic model for the study area to replicate as closely as possible actual 2012 conditions, with the idea of extending that model to 2032, Jabo said.

When all is said and done, those traffic data—plus population, employment, and train-volume projections—will be used to update NIRPC’s overall transportation plan and determine whether the Dickinson Road extension has any place in that plan.

The commission is paying DLZ $69,640 for the engineering study.

If ever actually built, the Dickinson Road extension will connect Indian Boundary Road to East Porter Ave. via Council Drive.

The commission voted 3-0 to approve two claims: $1,071.18 from 1st American Management; and $3,862.50 from Harris Welsh & Lukmann.

Members Jeff Trout and Ed Schoenfelt were not in attendance.

Posted 10/24/2012