Valparaiso’s bus service to Chicago got a $6.8 million boost Thursday from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.
The RDA board voted unanimously to allocate $6,847,000 for the ChicaGo Dash commuter bus service between Valparaiso and downtown Chicago.
Bill Hanna, the RDA’s president and CEO, said support for ChicaGo Dash had been one of the RDA’s first projects. But the bus service’s success has meant its parking lot behind the Franklin House in downtown Valparaiso is filled to capacity every day.
The RDA’s grant will help Valparaiso develop a larger parking area and build a new transit center, including a ticket office, waiting area, restrooms and retail space; the city will acquire the site, which also will serve the city’s V-Line buses.
Valparaiso began looking last year for a site between its downtown and U.S. 30.
“We’re extremely excited about moving forward (with the expanded parking) and hope to put a shovel in the ground next year,” said Tyler Kent, Valparaiso’s planning and transportation director.
He said ChicaGo Dash carries between 120 and 140 people a day now; when it started, only 26 rode it. The service has four buses now and plans to add another one next year.
The RDA also allocated $4.5 million for planning to coordinate with the Indiana Department of Transportation’s plan to close a section of the current U.S. 12 route in Miller and move that highway’s merger with U.S. 20 to the east of Lake Street.
Hanna said the RDA’s money would be used for plans to improve access to Miller’s business district and create safer pedestrian crossings on U.S. 20.
The U.S. 12 route change would accommodate the South Shore Line’s plan to build a second set of tracks between Gary and Michigan City to improve its commuter service; the railroad is seeking a federal grant to pay half of the project’s cost.
However, an INDOT spokesman said the highway realignment project – for which planning is still in its early stages – is not influenced by the South Shore’s plans. The highway department plans to get bids for its project in 2019.
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The RDA authorized spending up to $25,000 for a “scoping” study on creating a Lake County convention center.
Hanna said Barnes & Thornburg, a law and consulting firm, would develop the parameters for a later, in-depth feasibility study for a convention center. The preliminary study will be completed by the end of March and probably sooner, Hanna said.
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority has advocated for a Lake County convention facility, particularly since the owners of the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville, which has hosted conventions and large events, announced that it would close in January.
Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.