Are there plans to ever connect Main Street (Munster) or 213th Street (Dyer) with Joe Orr Road (Lynwood, IL) (Hammond: crime)

[ta1064]

A connector was discussed years ago, but still hasn’t happened. The drive-around is so inefficient when there’s vacant land between these IN and IL thoroughfares.

What is the issue?

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by ta1064

A connector was discussed years ago, but still hasn’t happened. The drive-around is so inefficient when there’s vacant land between these IN and IL thoroughfares.

What is the issue?

The main issue--from what people have said, NOT my personal thoughts--is that many folks that live on the Indiana side right by where the extension would be for Main St (primarily folks in the Meadows subdivision in Dyer) do not want the extension because of 1) Increased traffic and 2) Concerns about crime with another "exit" for criminals to flee back to Illinois.

Another issue is that while the extension of Main St to the Illinois line is not too much work for Munster, the connections from Joe Orr to the state line for Lynwood would be huge and require a lot of property acquisition that Lynwood likely cannot afford (even with matching grants). They may be able to swing connecting from the state line to Burnham Ave but I could not see them doing much more than that at this time.

With the South Shore line being extended to the Munster/Dyer border (with the station on the Munster side), I do believe that while this is an obvious boon from NWI, it will also help south suburbs such as Lansing and Lynwood a lot. Those two suburbs (amongst many other South Suburbs) have amongst the highest effective tax rates in the Chicago area and so anything to make the area more attractive to new development such as this train should help. Lynwood has still seen a fair amount of residential construction recently (I would say the pandemic definitely helped with that) and this has caused some dormant subdivisions to become active with new construction again and hopefully will fill out soon. Opening the roads to allow the Indiana-Illinois connection as well as access to the Munster/Dyer station should only help the desirability of Lynwood (which needs it).

[ta1064]

Originally Posted by Northwest Indiana

The main issue--from what people have said, NOT my personal thoughts--is that many folks that live on the Indiana side right by where the extension would be for Main St (primarily folks in the Meadows subdivision in Dyer) do not want the extension because of 1) Increased traffic and 2) Concerns about crime with another "exit" for criminals to flee back to Illinois.

Another issue is that while the extension of Main St to the Illinois line is not too much work for Munster, the connections from Joe Orr to the state line for Lynwood would be huge and require a lot of property acquisition that Lynwood likely cannot afford (even with matching grants). They may be able to swing connecting from the state line to Burnham Ave but I could not see them doing much more than that at this time.

With the South Shore line being extended to the Munster/Dyer border (with the station on the Munster side), I do believe that while this is an obvious boon from NWI, it will also help south suburbs such as Lansing and Lynwood a lot. Those two suburbs (amongst many other South Suburbs) have amongst the highest effective tax rates in the Chicago area and so anything to make the area more attractive to new development such as this train should help. Lynwood has still seen a fair amount of residential construction recently (I would say the pandemic definitely helped with that) and this has caused some dormant subdivisions to become active with new construction again and hopefully will fill out soon. Opening the roads to allow the Indiana-Illinois connection as well as access to the Munster/Dyer station should only help the desirability of Lynwood (which needs it).

Wow, interesting insight. How people can be so close-minded and block infrastructure progress is sad.

[chitoelk]

Originally Posted by ta1064

Wow, interesting insight. How people can be so close-minded and block infrastructure progress is sad.

Do you see how many police chases start/end on the border? From St.John to Hammond.

[ta1064]

Originally Posted by chitoelk

Do you see how many police chases start/end on the border? From St.John to Hammond.

There’s only so much you can restrict. Roads are needed for travel.

[WildWestDude]

Originally Posted by chitoelk

Do you see how many police chases start/end on the border? From St.John to Hammond.

Actually, not familiar with the number. Is it really high? It would make sense if it is.

[chitoelk]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

Actually, not familiar with the number. Is it really high? It would make sense if it is.

It’s very very very common. Lake County has started using helicopters to track suspects.