Interstate 94 drivers will have more reasons to stay alert on Northwest Indiana’s busiest highway this year.
The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to carry out $45 million in highway and bridge repair projects along I-94 from the Illinois border to the Michigan state line in its Restore 94 campaign.
Some projects are underway now; others are scheduled to start next week or in early June.
Speaking on Thursday at INDOT’s Traffic Management Center in Gary, INDOT Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson asked drivers using I-94 to anticipate delays, especially during peak travel hours and on holidays and weekends.
Hendrickson said INDOT will schedule nighttime work as much as possible to reduce daytime delays.
Traffic sensors in the work zones will signal when traffic is slowing, INDOT officials said, and warnings will appear on message signs above the highway.
State police will have additional patrols.
“Stay alert and pay attention to signs,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas said. “Most of all, be patient.”
Up to 180,000 vehicles a day travel on the busiest section of I-94, near the Illinois line, Hendrickson said.
The project sites, from west to east:
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* Calumet Avenue to Indianapolis Boulevard: lane closures for bridge maintenance and repair, June 1 through October.
* Kennedy Avenue: lane closures for bridge rehabilitation, May through October.
* Cline Avenue to Interstate 65: nightly lane closures for concrete rehabilitation, June to early November.
* Indiana 51 to Indiana 249: lane closures for concrete rehabilitation, underway now through October.
* Near Porter-LaPorte county line to U.S. 421: lane closures for drainage repair, concrete rehabilitation and asphalt resurfacing, May 1 through July.
* U.S. 421 to U.S. 35: lane closures and possibly nightly double-lane closures, concrete pavement restoration, June through October.
* U.S. 35 to Michigan line: lane closures for bridge rehabilitation, now through Nov. 1
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, chairman of the Indiana House’s Roads and Transportation Committee, said money for the I-94 work is part of the $400 million appropriated by legislators this year for local and statewide road and highway work.
Indiana, like the rest of the U.S., has been underspending on roads and other infrastructure for years, Soliday said, so the Indiana General Assembly allocated more money for highway repair and maintenance projects.
“We can’t continue as we are,” he said.
Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Traffic updates
Up-to-date traffic alerts are available on the Facebook site for the Indiana Department of Transportation: Northwest or on INDOT’s Twitter feed, @INDOTNorthwest.