Infrastructure News Summary
For November 30, 2007

ILLINOIS FAILS AGAIN TO FIND MASS TRANSIT FUNDING
Chesterton Tribune
11-29-07

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Another special session of the Illinois Legislature saw lawmakers hurling accusations of political grandstanding and failing to come up with a deal on a mass transit bailout. And there's more to come. A plan to divert state tax money to the ailing Chicago-area mass transit systems failed Wednesday night as lawmakers continued the intense political bickering that has absorbed them all year. Chicago-area bus and train passengers are left facing the prospect of service cuts and fare increases in the new year. The issue remains intertwined with the two other complex questions of gambling and capital construction. The plan would have diverted $440 million in state gasoline sales taxes to help the Chicago area's mass transit systems. Backers offered no proposal for filling the hole that would create in the state budget. http://www.chestertontribune.com/Northwest%20Indiana/11294%20illinois_fails_again_to_find_mas.htm

UPDATES UNVEILED FOR I-69
Evansville Courier & Press
Chuck Stinnett
11-30-07

SEBREE, Ky. - Engineers provided a nearly $300 million road map for upgrades to two Kentucky parkways to be used for Interstate 69 from Henderson to Eddyville. But there's no time frame for completing, or even starting, construction and there's no money for it. "Right now, there is no additional funding set aside in the federal highway transportation plan," Samantha Wright of Wilbur Smith Associates, a consulting engineering firm working for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said at a public meeting Tuesday night. The Sebree interchange is one of two former parkway toll plazas on the proposed I-69 route between Henderson and Eddyville. The sharply curved cloverleaf ramps were designed in the 1960s with the understanding that all traffic there would stop to pay tolls. http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/nov/30/updatesunveiledfor-i-69/

LINCOLNWAY RECONSTRUCTION ALMOST READY TO START
The NWI Times
Phil Wieland
11-30-07

VALPARAISO | As work on the roundabout is completed in the spring, the next phase of the city's Eastgate project will begin: the reconstruction of Lincolnway from Roosevelt Road to the roundabout. The estimated cost of reconstructing the road with curbs, gutters, sidewalks and decorative lighting is about $2.27 million. It will cost another $421,000 to relocate the water lines and $52,212 to replace the sanitary sewer for a total cost of $2.745 million. http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/11/30/news/porter_county/doc45de7dc6f66406a8862573a30016eecb.txt

RAIL LINE EXTENSION AT TOP OF AGENDA
The Post-Tribune
Erik Potter
11-30-07
MERRILLVILLE -- U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky and state Rep. Chet Dobis, both Merrillville Democrats, made another push Thursday to put the South Shore rail line extension at the top of the region's agenda. "The South Shore extension is about jobs and economic growth," Visclosky said, stressing the plan's potential for expanding the region's economic base. "Shame on us if we wait for steel to struggle again." Dobis said legislators are close to putting together a tax proposal to generate $30 million a year needed to finance the $350 million needed in local funding. http://www.post-trib.com/business/674716,forum.article

MAIN REOPENING SLOWED
South Bend Tribune
Sue Lowe
11-30-07

MISHAWAKA -- Main Street will remain closed at the railroad tracks north of the St. Joseph River until next year. An unhappy Gary West, director of engineering for the city, said Thursday that it could be February before the street reopens at the Canadian National Railroad tracks. He hopes the delay in opening the street won't delay the end of the project. Contractors for the city can continue with some of the work they would have been doing with the street open. The street closed Oct. 22 for the beginning of construction of an underpass under the tracks. It was supposed to be opened again in about three weeks.West said the city and its contractors were told early this week that crews working for the railroad did not properly put in new temporary tracks 30 feet south of the permanent tracks. The tracks need to be banked because they're at the beginning of a curve that gradually turns eastbound trains to the north. http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/News01/711300333/1052/News01

LIBERTY PREPARES FOR U.S. 27 REPAIRS
Palladium-Item
Pam Tharp
11-30-07

LIBERTY, Ind. -- The extensive reconstruction of U.S. 27 in town will likely be a two-year project, engineers said Thursday. Utilities will be relocated, all new storm sewers installed, and new pavement, curbs and sidewalks planned for the federal highway in Liberty. Construction isn't expected to begin until 2011, even though the project has been in the works for a long time, David Vorndran, vice president of Hanson Professional Services, said at a field meeting at the Union County Courthouse. http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NEWS01/711300301/1008

I-69 MASTER PLAN UNVEILED
14-WFIE - The Tri-State's News Leader
Reporter - Brandon Bartlett
11-30-07

Interstate 69 is heading south, but as Hoosiers have seen it's a long process to go from blueprints to construction. Thursday night, Webster County residents got their first look at the I-69 master plan through western Kentucky. In Sebree, transportation officials layed out their master plan, a plan that calls for major upgrades to some Kentucky roadways. Interstate 69 is heading south, but as Hoosiers have seen it's a long process to go from blueprints to construction. Thursday night, Webster County residents got their first look at the I-69 master plan through western Kentucky. In Sebree, transportation officials layed out their master plan, a plan that calls for major upgrades to some Kentucky roadways. http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=7431508&nav=menu54_3