LAKE STATION, Ind. (AP) - The private operator of the Indiana Toll Road continues to study the possible elimination of westbound Exit 21 and still plans to make a decision by this fall, according to ITR Concession Co. spokeswoman Amber Kettring.
ITR Concession Co. will convene a key meeting next month with Indiana Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration officials do discuss the future of the Exit 21 interchange in Lake Station, Kettring said.
The closure of any part of the interchange would require public hearings, Kettring said. It also would require INDOT approval.
"We are working very closely with INDOT officials in that area," Kettring said last week. "It is a joint effort."
Toll Road westbound Exit 21 is the only direct westbound connection between the privately operated Toll Road and Interstates 80-94, also known as the Borman Expressway, in Lake County. When the ramp was closed last summer for repairs, Toll Road motorists were told to go to westbound Exit 17 in Gary to access the Borman via Interstate 65.
The primary option being considered remains rebuilding the aging, twisting ramps at Exit 21 in some way, Kettring said. Although that may include eliminating westbound Exit 21, it now appears unlikely the entire interchange would be eliminated, Kettring said.
Bill Brown, Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission transportation planning manager, told an NIRPC committee last week he had completed studies of how various options being considered would affect air pollution in the region. Those studies are required by federal regulations.
Brown said he delivered reports on three options for Exit 21: rebuilding the entire ramp network, eliminating the westbound exit ramp or eliminating the interchange altogether.
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