By PAULENE POPARAD

Howe Road residents protested to the end, but the Porter Redevelopment Commission on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for engineering and environmental studies for a looped approach and angled tunnel under U.S. 20 as part of the Porter Brickyard hike/bike trail.

Jill Field, whose home at U.S. 20 and Howe will be bordered by the trail on two sides, tearfully articulated her apprehension. “I am extremely disappointed in this whole, whole project.”

The blow is even more unwelcome, said Field, after her former home in Chesterton was built on unstable soil, sank and had to be evacuated at a financial loss. She thought the Howe Road home would be a peaceful retreat.

Instead, Field said her investment is threatened and she will lose her privacy. “Would this be a house that would be inviting and exciting for you to live in?” she asked commission members. After the meeting she said if she can’t stop the trail, she can file a lawsuit against the Realtor who sold Field her home three years ago. “They knew (about the trail) and never disclosed it to me.”

Member Al Raffin said the $645,229 tunnel is less intrusive than the original $667,147 overhead bridge that would have spanned U.S. 20 and enabled trail users to see into Howe Road back yards. Trail project manager Matt Keiser said a minimum 4-foot-tall wooden stockade or privacy fence will be erected along Field’s west property line to screen a portion of her yard from the trail.

After the meeting Keiser said there is no reason for the town to acquire the Field property. Land acquisition for the tunnel approach west of Field is estimated to cost about $35,000.

Commission member Paul Childress voted no on the 3-1 motion on the bridge with member Jennifer Granat absent. Childress said he believes a $539,278 in-line tunnel built under U.S. 20 directly linking both sides of Howe Road is preferable for safety; he predicted some trail users will not follow the new path as it jogs to the south and instead will cross four-lane U.S. 20 at-grade unprotected.

Raffin restated his earlier position that this tunnel design saves money, and the town can only do so much for people and then they’ll have to make the effort themselves. “We want to make sure it’s reasonably safe. The option we’re giving them is.”

Commission member Bill Sexton said the in-line tunnel would require closing to traffic westbound Howe Road and making the eastbound travel lane a one-way. He said the looped approach and tunnel is less intrusive. As for Childress’ concerns about at-grade crossings, Sexton said the other side of Howe Road will be trees, a guardrail and a 12-foot drop. “There’s no place to go.”

Commission member Lorri Wickberg agreed leisure trail users won’t want to cross at-grade. “Most bike riders are not trying to get from Point A to Point B at the fastest route.”

As now proposed the trail will cross from North Mineral Springs Road and proceed west on the south side of Howe. Keiser said four feet of additional pavement will be added on each side of the road, which will be restriped to add the 8-foot-wide trail built on town property. Storm sewers along Howe will be relocated and upgraded at a cost of $24,000.

Near U.S. 20 the trail will turn south for a distance and then make a wide cut-back loop east, then northwest as the grade begins to descend before the 185-foot-long diagonal tunnel itself begins. The National Park Service only will allow the tunnel to emerge on its land at the closed portion of Howe Road on the west side of U.S. 20 where the trail will connect to the NPS trail system.

Keiser said four protected retaining walls for the approaches are planned; drainage, lights and security cameras in the 14-foot by 10-foot tunnel; and extensive guard rails and/or fencing along both sides of U.S. 20. The center of the loop approach could be a planted garden with restricted access for maintenance only.

Keiser emphasized that the looped approach is designed for a biker to circle safely coasting at approximately 15 mph.

The Howe tunnel leg of the overall $2.4 million trail project includes $110,785 for repair and replacement of U.S. 20 following open-cut installation of the tunnel in phases to allow for continuous traffic movement on the highway.

Planned since 1999 and still unbuilt, the town has $1.9 million in federal grants and a donation from the National Park Service for the Brickyard Trail but not a shovel of earth turned. The current council revived the project two years ago but some town residents fought each alternate route proposed along their respective streets. Howe was the one portion of the non-federal trail route that hasn’t changed, but its residents have.

“It’s going to be intrusive to change the way we live to accommodate bikers,” George Vazan-Ellis told the commission Tuesday. “Are we just tired looking for alternatives?” Replied Raffin, “I think we tried to come up with what we feel is the best solution. The people have been heard and we tried to listen to what people say.”

Howe resident Walt Muncie wasn’t swayed and predicted once the trail’s put in, if there are problems the homeowners are stuck with it. “If 100 people turned it down, it can’t be too good.”

Posted 4/26/2006