The Daniel Burnham Expressway - The Illiana Reimagined

[pianocello]

IN 49 north of the Toll Road wouldn't have the cross country truck traffic (minimal at best for trucks going to Michigan) that would require wholesale new ROW to I-94. And north of I-94, it would be just a feeder into the Indiana Dunes anyway. Here's how I would redo Indiana 49 to make it a freeway between I-94 and US 30.

https://www.scribblemaps.com/api/maps/images/450/450/IND49EXPY.png

Light blue is Indiana 49 and existing exit ramps.
Green is new underpass.
Dark blue is new overpass.
All other existing bridges do not change.
Red is road closure.
Gold is new ramps and roads.
Purple is Indiana 49 as a regular 4 lane divided road with no access restrictions.
Green box is a new toll plaza for the Indiana Toll Road.
Blue box is a new Park n Ride lot.
Red box is the old Park n Ride lot to be closed.
Gold circle is a stoplight on the ramp. Note that the Indiana Toll Road interchange with Indiana 49 has one. This is due to the tightness on the east side of 49 but it is just for the ramps for NB 49 to Toll Rd and Toll Rd to NB 49 traffic. 49 and the Toll Rd traffic is still free flow.

There are now interchanges at (starting on the north)(existing are *):
Tremont Rd / Oak Hill Rd (Chesterton)
* I-94
Indian Boundary Rd (Chesterton)
Porter Ave (Chesterton)
Voyager Blvd TO Village Point (Chesterton)
I-80/90 Indiana Toll Rd
* US 6 (Portage - South Haven - Westville)
600 North Rd TO Calumet Ave (Valparaiso - Walkerton) SB OFF - NB ON ONLY
* Vale Park Rd (Valparaiso)
* Indiana 2 LaPorte Ave (Valparaiso - Westville - LaPorte)
* US 30 Morthland Dr (Merrillville - Valparaiso - Plymouth - Ft Wayne)

You should link to a more visible source. I'm curious to see what you have for interchange geometry and stuff like that. Partly because I know the area pretty well, but also because I had a similar thought last year.

[nwi_navigator_1181]

I hate to be the dissenting voice, but I don't think putting the expressway along the length of Indiana 49 would be a great idea. Not only is there a lot of development along the length on the divided portion, but that may potentially turn off a lot of regulars who'd use this route to go from Chesterton to Valparaiso (and beyond) on a daily basis. Then, the surrounding highways would see an influx of traffic looking to use local roads to avoid paying tolls. Also, I'd feel it would defeat the purpose of this road (bypassing the metro areas of Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland).

I think it would be ideal to bow the road northbound and toward the Toll Road east of Wanatah. I would have the interchange somewhere between US 421 and US 35. It's close to Michigan City, traffic is quite sparse at that point, and there is considerably more open space to pull off the trumpet interchange.

[spell4yr]

IN 49 north of the Toll Road wouldn't have the cross country truck traffic (minimal at best for trucks going to Michigan) that would require wholesale new ROW to I-94. And north of I-94, it would be just a feeder into the Indiana Dunes anyway. Here's how I would redo Indiana 49 to make it a freeway between I-94 and US 30.

https://www.scribblemaps.com/api/maps/images/450/450/IND49EXPY.png

Light blue is Indiana 49 and existing exit ramps.
Green is new underpass.
Dark blue is new overpass.
All other existing bridges do not change.
Red is road closure.
Gold is new ramps and roads.
Purple is Indiana 49 as a regular 4 lane divided road with no access restrictions.
Green box is a new toll plaza for the Indiana Toll Road.
Blue box is a new Park n Ride lot.
Red box is the old Park n Ride lot to be closed.
Gold circle is a stoplight on the ramp. Note that the Indiana Toll Road interchange with Indiana 49 has one. This is due to the tightness on the east side of 49 but it is just for the ramps for NB 49 to Toll Rd and Toll Rd to NB 49 traffic. 49 and the Toll Rd traffic is still free flow.

There are now interchanges at (starting on the north)(existing are *):
Tremont Rd / Oak Hill Rd (Chesterton)
* I-94
Indian Boundary Rd (Chesterton)
Porter Ave (Chesterton)
Voyager Blvd TO Village Point (Chesterton)
I-80/90 Indiana Toll Rd
* US 6 (Portage - South Haven - Westville)
600 North Rd TO Calumet Ave (Valparaiso - Walkerton) SB OFF - NB ON ONLY
* Vale Park Rd (Valparaiso)
* Indiana 2 LaPorte Ave (Valparaiso - Westville - LaPorte)
* US 30 Morthland Dr (Merrillville - Valparaiso - Plymouth - Ft Wayne)

You should link to a more visible source. I'm curious to see what you have for interchange geometry and stuff like that. Partly because I know the area pretty well, but also because I had a similar thought last year.

Agreed on the visible source, especially at Indian Boundary Road. The only way I can see an interchange working there is if the state were to acquire part of the old Kmart property northbound, but everything seems way too tight southbound to be feasible without significant, relatively pointless eminent domain.

[I-90]

Was I-355 not worthwhile until the section south of I-55 was built?

There was opposition against the road way and the tollway authority actually threatened to build the tollway with no interchanges unless the suburbs through which the new extension ran contributed $20 million for construction of the interchanges.

[hobsini2]

IN 49 north of the Toll Road wouldn't have the cross country truck traffic (minimal at best for trucks going to Michigan) that would require wholesale new ROW to I-94. And north of I-94, it would be just a feeder into the Indiana Dunes anyway. Here's how I would redo Indiana 49 to make it a freeway between I-94 and US 30.

https://www.scribblemaps.com/api/maps/images/450/450/IND49EXPY.png

Light blue is Indiana 49 and existing exit ramps.
Green is new underpass.
Dark blue is new overpass.
All other existing bridges do not change.
Red is road closure.
Gold is new ramps and roads.
Purple is Indiana 49 as a regular 4 lane divided road with no access restrictions.
Green box is a new toll plaza for the Indiana Toll Road.
Blue box is a new Park n Ride lot.
Red box is the old Park n Ride lot to be closed.
Gold circle is a stoplight on the ramp. Note that the Indiana Toll Road interchange with Indiana 49 has one. This is due to the tightness on the east side of 49 but it is just for the ramps for NB 49 to Toll Rd and Toll Rd to NB 49 traffic. 49 and the Toll Rd traffic is still free flow.

There are now interchanges at (starting on the north)(existing are *):
Tremont Rd / Oak Hill Rd (Chesterton)
* I-94
Indian Boundary Rd (Chesterton)
Porter Ave (Chesterton)
Voyager Blvd TO Village Point (Chesterton)
I-80/90 Indiana Toll Rd
* US 6 (Portage - South Haven - Westville)
600 North Rd TO Calumet Ave (Valparaiso - Walkerton) SB OFF - NB ON ONLY
* Vale Park Rd (Valparaiso)
* Indiana 2 LaPorte Ave (Valparaiso - Westville - LaPorte)
* US 30 Morthland Dr (Merrillville - Valparaiso - Plymouth - Ft Wayne)

You should link to a more visible source. I'm curious to see what you have for interchange geometry and stuff like that. Partly because I know the area pretty well, but also because I had a similar thought last year.

Unfortunately, for some reason I can't get back into the source code for the map. So this is the cut and paste I was able to do for each interchange that changes. Green is underpass. Blue is overpass.



Indiana 2, Vale Park Rd, US 6 and I-94 interchanges do not change.
New underpasses with no interchanges:
Burlington Beach Rd
950 North - Calumet Ave
1050 North Rd
1100 North Rd

[captkirk_4]

If they are going to take it so far south where it meets I-55 maybe it would be easier to build it through Kankakee County near Mommence and Roselawn Indiana than Will county and Lowell. Lowell is quite a bit more built up already than the area along IN 10 and IL 17. Wasn't Will county the hotbead of the anti Illiana ferver?

[Brandon]

If they are going to take it so far south where it meets I-55 maybe it would be easier to build it through Kankakee County near Mommence and Roselawn Indiana than Will county and Lowell. Lowell is quite a bit more built up already than the area along IN 10 and IL 17. Wasn't Will county the hotbead of the anti Illiana ferver?

Just a few twits near Wilmington and in the eastern part of the county. Those of us in north Will County were all for it.

[inkyatari]

As I stated elsewhere, had the state, ISTHA, or Willco been smart, they would have built the Illiana along the Laraway Rd. corridor. The road would have been much more useful there.

[The Ghostbuster]

I seriously doubt this expressway will ever be built. Does anyone agree with me?

[I-90]

I seriously doubt this expressway will ever be built. Does anyone agree with me?

I do

[hobsini2]

As I stated elsewhere, had the state, ISTHA, or Willco been smart, they would have built the Illiana along the Laraway Rd. corridor. The road would have been much more useful there.

Agreed.

[Rick Powell]

As I stated elsewhere, had the state, ISTHA, or Willco been smart, they would have built the Illiana along the Laraway Rd. corridor. The road would have been much more useful there.

Agreed.

Will County does have a long range plan to turn Laraway into a 4-lane arterial, and it would continue on to the east in Cook County as the already 4-lane Sauk Trail, but I am not aware of any plans to connect Laraway west to I-55. The proposed Houbolt Road-Des Plaines river bridge connector would indirectly link Laraway with I-55.

[Revive 755]

^ But only as an arterial with conventional intersections.  I know this is due to funding, but it would still be nice to see someone try to replicate the expressway sections of IL 83 and start Laraway off the bat with interchanges at the major cross routes (IL 53, US 52, US 45, and a few others) or higher capacity at-grade designs (CFI's and/or Michigan lefts) rather than let it become another clogged arterial that does not draw anyone from I-80.