The Federal Highway Administration has rendered an opinion on the Town of Munster’s new Ridge Road configuration: “Not so fast.”

In a report dated Oct. 25 that the Post-Tribune obtained, Abell Gelaye, a design policy/geometrics program manager with the FHWA’s Indiana division, reminded the Town that the project’s purpose is “to enhance safety for both vehicles and pedestrians by transforming the corridor into a walkable downtown destination.” In its original plan, for which the U.S. Department of Transportation in August 2022 awarded Munster a $17.1 million RAISE grant, the Town would reduce Ridge Road to three lanes from its current five and turn it into what planners call a “complete street”: one that’s available for people on foot or wheels, not just cars and trucks, the Post-Tribune previously reported.

The Council on October 7 — five days after the Town held a study session with the engineering representative it’s using to get through the grant process — sent Gelaye a letter outlining the changes it wants to make to its grant application. The current traffic volumes, as well as future traffic volumes, don’t allow for a lane reduction, Council President David Nellans, R-4, wrote.

“Based on evaluation of alternative designs and coordination with the Town of Munster Town Council and conversations with emergency response personnel, the preliminary preferred design for the Ridge Road project is to maintain two through travel lanes in each direction,” he wrote. “In addition (to the traffic), after the initial studies serving as the baseline for the RAISE Grant application, a nearby regional hospital was shut down, resulting in an increase in emergency vehicle operation along Ridge Road through the Town of Munster.”

The revised grant application allows “flexibility” while still adhering to the FHWA’s Safe Systems Roadway Design Approach, Nellans wrote. The Town would accomplish this by configuring private drives to be right-in/right out through using driveway splitter or center medians; reducing lane size; reducing vehicle speeds; considering potential options for pedestrian-activated mid-block crossings with a center refuge; and adding backplates with retroreflective borders to traffic signals and high-visibility markings for pedestrian crosswalks along the corridor, among other things.

“The Town of Munster is committed to making the Ridge Road a safer roadway for all users,” Nellans wrote. “With the proposed amendment to the Grant Agreement, we are committed to following FHWA guidelines for Complete Streets and utilizing the FHWA Safe Systems approach for roadways.”

Gelaye, in his report, didn’t agree.

“Traffic analysis indicates that the three-lane section functions as effectively as the five-lane section,” Gelaye said. “The crash data in the report shows the highest incidence in the area suggesting that the recommendation or analysis did not propose countermeasures to reduce crashes.

Gelaye also noted that the speed study the Town conducted showed 60% of vehicles traveling that section of Ridge exceed the posted speed limit of 35 mph, with 2% exceeding 55 mph, but it didn’t recommend countermeasures for higher speeders, nor did it update the crash report and safety analysis of the last four years.

Additionally, if shrinking the width of current lanes to 10 feet to allow for a bike or travel lane, for example, would be fine for cars, it wouldn’t be for trucks and busses, which need a minimum of 11 feet, according to current standards, Gelaye wrote.

“Therefore, the recommendation in the PE Assessment report for a five-lane section does not address the grant application award,” he wrote, adding that further justification of the safety benefits may be needed. “We believe the project satisfies the purpose and needs as agreed to by a full range of stakeholders. … Given the high competitiveness of this grant, it is essential that all terms and conditions are strictly followed.”

Whether Gelaye’s report indicates that Munster will have to give up the $17.1 million grant is unclear; neither Gelaye nor Munster Interim Town Manager Patricia Abbott returned emails from the Post-Tribune to clarify by press time.

Munster resident Mitch Barloga, co-founder of For the Love of Munster, a self-described nonpartisan group of citizens “committed to maintaining and improving quality of life in Munster,” doesn’t think it’s the end quite yet, but the FHWA is sending a clear message that there’s no little-to-no wiggle room for keeping the grant.

“We always expected the FHWA to reject their new design because it takes away from the project’s core element: safety,” Barloga said after an informational meeting the group held about the project Thursday night. “If you eliminate the lane reduction, you’re not providing safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.”

Munster Councilman Chuck Gardiner, R-4, who was on the council when the original plan was finalized, said turning Ridge Road into a “complete street” would have far-reaching benefits to the town.

“The idea of safety is more than just emergency vehicles. If you were to connect Maple Leaf Boulevard (a proposed road to the former Lansing Country Club property development) to Ridge Road, we would be successful in connecting areas of multiple towns for people to get to.”

Besides, despite sounding counterintuitive, three lanes of traffic function as efficiently as five lanes, if not moreso, he said.

“Our traffic studies show that five lanes of traffic attract more traffic than they alleviate,” Gardiner said.

The town’s original plan — which the Council adopted June 5th, 2021 and for which USDOT awarded the town a $17.1 million RAISE grant in August 2022 that the town will contribute $4 million in tax increment finance money — called for reducing the current five-lane Ridge Road to three lanes and adding space for pedestrians, cyclists and greenery and becoming what planners call a “complete street” — one that’s available for people on foot or wheels, not just cars and trucks, the Post-Tribune previously reported. Instead of two lanes in each direction and a continuous turn lane in the middle, it would have three: one in each direction and a center turn lane.

Trees and rain gardens — green space designed to temporarily store rainwater after storms — would replace some of the area formerly devoted to vehicles, and the rain gardens and trees would help stop water from filling streets and basements after storms, Anderson said. The amount of impervious road surface will be cut by 25%.

There also would be a 10-foot-wide path for pedestrians and cyclists, and places to cross the slimmed-down road safely between intersections. Parking spaces would be added along the roadway for people going to nearby businesses.

The current Town Council, however, campaigned on keeping Ridge Road five lanes in 2022, and while it doesn’t want to lose $17.1 million, the council “won’t go back on their campaign promise,” the Post-Tribune reported previously.

“We’re going to do everything we can to be in compliance, but do you do something wrong just because you have the money? It’s like people are saying: ‘We are their referendum’,” Nellans said.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.