Mayor Eidam warns Lansing of “profound inconvenience” of temporary RR closing in Munster
by Melanie Jongsma
LANSING, Ill. (October 16, 2018) – As part of New Business during tonight’s Committee of the Whole meeting, Mayor Eidam informed the Board and the public of information she had received from Munster, Indiana’s, Director of Public Works just hours earlier. “CSX Railroad will be temporarily closing W. 45th Street at the railroad crossing in Munster (located west of Calumet Avenue and east of Wentworth Avenue) for a complete restoration of its RR crossing,” she read. “This is a scheduled TOTAL ROAD & SIDEWALK CLOSURE, for approximately three days, beginning October 29.”
The statement from Munster details the type of equipment being used, the factors affecting the timeline, and the types of organizations impacted, but Eidam summarized the outcome in six words: “Ridge Road is gonna be bad.”
This is the first of several crossing upgrades scheduled by CSX that will impact other communities heading south, including Dyer, St. John, Cedar Lake, Lowell, and Lake County areas.
Lansing motorists who use W. 45th Street to travel into Indiana for business and healthcare services will need to find alternate routes. Munster requests everyone’s patience for this needed improvement.
Schools bus routes, hospital ambulance routes, and area businesses will all be impacted. Munster is taking every opportunity to publicize this road closure, and readers of this post are encouraged to share it.
CSX has agreed to do a simultaneous advance press release to help notify as many people as possible so that alternate travel routes can be planned by the motoring public, and traffic on 45th Street can be reduced. If Munster is apprised of any changes to the schedule, that information will be shared.
