Infrastructure News Summary
For November 01, 2007

FT. WAYNE DRIVER DROPS INTO HOLE
Indianapolis Star
11-01-07

Fort Wayne - A 61-year-old man drove into an eight-foot hole after he passed construction barrels on a closed downtown street Wednesday. He escaped with only a small cut on his left hand after he turned his Chevrolet Lumina onto Calhoun Street and plunged into the hole. Safety officials from a company doing excavation work on the street said they were taking witness statements about how Farrell was able to turn onto the street. Barrels placed at the intersection were wide enough apart to allow construction equipment to pass through. The car was eventually removed, and a high-voltage electrical line running under the street escaped damage.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/LOCAL/711010517/1006

TRAIN TRAFFIC WOULD JUMP UNDER CN PLAN
NWI Times
Keith Benman
11-01-07

Three times as many trains will be running on EJ&E tracks through Dyer, Schererville, Griffith, Gary and Lynwood under Canadian National Railway Co.'s plans to purchase the smaller railroad. That is raising concerns in the towns, where motorists often see their commutes stymied by long trains creeping across at-grade crossings. "When you come up or down Hart Street and run into one of those trains now, they are so long, it locks us right up," Dyer Town Manager Joe Neeb said. The number of trains crossing Sheffield Avenue at the heart of town would go from about 10 a day now to 34 within a few years, according to the application CN filed Wednesday with the federal Surface Transportation Board. Carloads of hazardous waste shipped on that route would go from about 45 per year to 436. CN officials will be talking with all communities that would be affected by a shift in rail traffic, according to CN spokesman Jim Kvedaras.
http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/11/01/news/top_news/doccc4a2ecb0d0928f186257385008028f2.txt

RAILROAD EXPANSION PLAN ENDORSED
NWI Times
Martin Zabell
11-01-07

Hammond - On Wednesday, a picture guaranteed the Lake County Convention & Visitors Bureau's unanimous support of a plan to extend the South Shore railroad line's plan to extend service to Lowell and Valparaiso. The picture in question was part of a 30-minute slide presentation by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and the Northwest Indiana Forum to the visitors bureau's board at the latter's monthly meeting. During the presentation, NICTD general manager Jerry Hanas said the railroad extension is needed because the 4.2 million passengers who used the current line in 2006 was the highest it has been since 1957, ridership rose 10.7 percent in 2006 from 2005, there is standing-room-only service during many rush-hour trains, and Northwest Indiana's population rapidly is growing. Hanas added that economic development experts expect an additional 800,000 jobs in Cook County by 2030 and Northwest Indiana residents need access to them. Hanas said the Regional Development Authority pledged $150 million for the project and the U.S. government would match a $500 million local contribution. Hanas also said that a NICTD-Policy Analytics of Indiana study estimated that the railroad extension will create 26,000 jobs. "We need a $350 million bond issue to make this work," he said. "It's truly an economic development project with a large return for Northwest Indiana," Hanas said. http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/11/01/business/business/doc8695c3c16628fef38625738500713c34.txt