Published: November 07, 2009 02:39 pm      

Meeting offers chance to learn about project

Thanks to an earmark sponsored by U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, consultants are looking at developing 18th Street into a new entryway for the city of Logansport.

Whether that’s a good thing depends on who you ask.

City officials last spring approved spending $345,000 in county economic development income tax funds to pay for the study.

Supporters noted that the money would be reimbursed by the Indiana Department of Transportation, using funds from the earmark pushed through by Donnelly.

Critics, though, suggested that regardless of the source, the money might well be wasted. They suggested that the project would be hugely expensive, and they questioned whether the city would ever come up with the money to carry it out.

With the opening of a new campus of Ivy Tech Community College in the coming weeks, some see 18th Street developing into a major thoroughfare. They see the area surrounding the campus developing into a new commercial area, and they see a wider 18th Street, perhaps with a new railroad underpass or overpass, as a great way to help that development along.

They also see it making the road safer.

Others see a narrow road over rough railroad crossings and surrounded by old warehouses, and they wonder how anyone could see that as a potential grand new entrance to the city. They suggest that other roads, such as Main Street, are better suited to handling traffic coming into the city from the nearby Hoosier Heartland.

Folks on both sides of the argument will have a chance to learn about the project during a Tuesday meeting.

Those who turn out will hear from Mayor Mike Fincher and from representatives of American Structurepoint, the consultant hired to help with the plan.

Fincher and the consultants will talk about the planning process, about future public input opportunities and about case studies from other communities facing similar issues. They’ll also present a brief history regarding the decision to study the corridor, and they’ll talk about potential transportation solutions, funding opportunities and environmental issues raised by the project.

A question-and-answer session will follow.

If you’re interested in the proposed project, this is a meeting you might want to attend.





Want to go?

What: Public meeting to kick off the planning process for the 18th Street corridor

When: Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, comments start at 6 p.m.

Where: McHale Complex at Riverside Park



The issue

Consultants looking at the feasibility of transforming 18th Street into a major thoroughfare have scheduled a public meeting this week.



Our view

Whether you’re for or against the project, this is a meeting you might want to attend.