A busy railroad crossing in Chesterton provided the backdrop as Gov. Eric Holcomb announced new state program Monday to improve safety at crossings.
The Local Trax program will help cities, towns and counties pay for overpasses and other safety systems at high-priority crossings.
“I’m encouraging every mayor, every (town) council and county around the state to pursue this,” Holcomb said.
The program is part of the “visionary” 20-year transportation funding legislation passed last year by the Indiana General Assembly, he said.
Local Trax will provide at least $125 million in matching funds to build overpasses, close railroad crossings, or provide other safety enhancements, the Indiana Department of Transportation said.
Local governments would pay 20 percent of each project’s cost, the state the rest.
Grant applications will be accepted from May 1 to Aug. 31.
Holcomb and others at the brief announcement spoke behind a temporary podium set up near the busy Norfolk Southern tracks crossing 15th Street. Other tracks carrying CSX and Amtrak trains cross a little north of there. About 100 trains a day rumble through Chesterton, Town Manager Bernard Doyle said.
The small crowd gathered nearby to listen to the announcement – and, later, to chat with the governor and Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe McGuinness – included some mayors who plan to apply for the grants.
“We have a number of opportunities (for the grants),” Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said. She said the city has been talking with the Norfolk Southern Railway about safety improvements, including street closures, in the city’s Glen Park area.
Mayors Brian Snedecor, of Hobart, and Jon Costas, of Valparaiso, also said they have projects in mind for the money.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, the author of the Indiana House bill that set up the long-range transportation funding program last year, said he pushed to including money for crossing safety because Indiana ranks high among the states not only for the number of railroad crossings but also for the number of crossing accidents.
He said the past year was spent in talks between INDOT and the railroads about the program.
“This is a big deal for me,” Soliday said of Holcomb’s announcement
The program announced Monday is part of Holcomb’s Next Level Roads plan, a 20-year program to improve the state’s roads and bridges.
The plan calls for spending $5.1 billion on highway infrastructure by the year 2022, including more than $300 million a year distributed to cities, towns and counties for local projects.
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The Next Level program is funded by increases in taxes and fees, including a 10-cent gasoline tax hike, approved by the Indiana General Assembly in 2017.
The Indiana Department of Transportation will talk more about the program with local officials at meetings around the state. The nearest one will be at 1 p.m. Monday, April 16, at INDOT’s LaPorte District office in LaPorte.
Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.