A restoration of the west parking lot at the Indiana Dunes State Park is now underway, with the work scheduled to conclude before the upcoming summer beach season.

Indiana Dunes State Park Property Manager Brandt Baughman said the $617,800 project includes resurfacing the lot and adding landscape features, such as establishing small dunes at the front of the lot. In addition, the project will include drainage controls and new permeable pavement strips for water runoff.

The parking lot will be striped as well. Baughman said that to the best of his knowledge, the lot has never been striped. The lot was designed for far more vehicles, but because there is no striping, motorists tend to leave large gaps between vehicles. The striping should accommodate more parking.

Gariup Construction is the general contractor for the lot work, which is scheduled for completion by May 21.

Baughman noted that still to come is a much larger project: The reconstruction of the main pavilion lot, which was damaged with last year’s floods when an overflowing Dunes Creek caused the collapse of a section of the park lot and erosion of the beach.

Baughman said because the pavilion lot project is significantly larger in scope, the work could not begin in time for it to be completed before the upcoming summer season. So the plans call for beginning the pavilion lot work sometime after Labor Day. He also expressed hope that the State Park will be able to tap federal stimulus funds for the project.

A separate project nearby is also underway. Crews are removing smaller trees and vegetation as part of a prairie restoration for an approximately 45-acre parcel east of Waverly Road and north of State Park Road. The project is part of a Lake Michigan Coastal Program grant project.

Posted 3/9/2009