Here’s where the
Downtown utility project stands as of today.
Item: The
third phase of the project will begin on schedule on Monday, April 25, as
general contractor Rieth-Riley Construction Company commences work on the
replacement of the sanitary sewer main between West Indiana Ave. and the
Norfolk-Southern grade crossing.
Note: The
intersection of South Calumet Road and West Indiana Ave. will be closed
from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. No left turns from northbound South Calumet
Road onto westbound West Indiana Ave. will be permitted on Monday. Motorists
northbound on South Calumet Road will still be able to access Lois
Lane—behind the South Calumet Road business block, adjacent to Coffee Creek
Park—by turning right onto East Indiana Ave., just before The Flower
Cart. Folks will be able to access Westchester Public Library from Second
Street.
Item:
Indiana-American Water Company’s hook-up of its new water main along the
east side of South Calumet Road—which had been scheduled for Wednesday,
April 20, with a boil advisory to follow on Thursday—was canceled.
Chesterton Town Engineer Mark O’Dell told the Chesterton Tribune
today that Indiana-American will re-schedule that hook-up in a couple of
weeks but no date has yet been set.
Item: The
collapsed sanitary sewer gravity main along North Calumet Road—which failed
on Sunday—has been repaired. Woodruff & Sons of Michigan City worked like
animals on the repair, O’Dell said, and managed to complete it something
like two days ahead of schedule. Both the southbound and northbound lanes of
North Calumet Road are now open, although motorists northbound are
encouraged to drive slowly and carefully over the still-graveled roadcut.
A reminder: all
businesses in the Downtown—along South Calumet Road, along North Calumet
Road, and along Broadway—are open. There’s ample parking along Lois
Lane and in the overflow lots of the Westchester Public Library, the first
across the street from the Library Service Center at 100 W. Indiana Ave.,
the second on the other side of Third Street across from the library parking
lot proper.
All phases of
the Downtown utility project—which, despite some setbacks and the weather,
remains pretty much on schedule—are due to be completed early in June.