Recommending trail and road improvements that would ease access for pedestrians and bicyclists to Porter Beach is the focus of an engineering firm’s study presented Wednesday at the Porter Plan Commission meeting.

The Butler, Fairman & Seufert firm of Merrillville was hired in 2022 after the town and the Indiana Dunes National Park obtained a $750,000 grant from the Federal Land Access Program. The study focused on improving connectivity from U.S. 20 north to Porter Beach. Porter is also working to extend its trail on Waverly Road north to U.S. 20, creating a link to its downtown area.

Rob Albrecht-Mallinger, the plan commission’s chairman, noted that with the South Shore railroad’s track upgrade and the ongoing Marquette Greenway project, a trail that will one day stretch from Chicago to New Buffalo, Michigan, the town will see more tourism.

“Porter is extremely well-positioned to be in a web of multiple places to go and places to come from,” Albrecht-Mallinger said.

The goal is to bring people into town with easy access to trails for use by pedestrians and bicyclists, Albrecht-Mallinger said.

Alex Olesker of Butler, Fairman & Seufert envisioned executing the plan in three phases. He didn’t share financial figures, but it will run into the millions of dollars. One major construction project would be installing a roundabout at U.S. 12 and Waverly Road, which Olesker said would probably cost around $4 million.

The initial phase would be to put a multi-use trail from Porter Beach on the east side of Wabash Avenue to Roskin Road, crossing before the bend at Waverly Road and then installing a trail on the north side of State Park Road over to Indiana 49.

There are currently no trails on Wabash Avenue to the beach, creating a hazardous situation where pedestrians and bicyclists are on the road.

“Getting down to Wabash from Waverly is really unsafe,” Albrecht-Mallinger said.

The project’s second phase would develop a trail on Waverly Road from U.S. 20 north to U.S. 12.

“A lot of people on Waverly Road are excited about a sidewalk, rather than having people walk up the road,” said Michael Barry, Porter’s director of development and building commissioner.

Barry said that N. Bailey Road could be used as a shared roadway for bicyclists and pedestrians to access the Dunes-Kankakee Trail, which runs parallel to Indiana 49 from the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center to the Indiana Dunes State Park entrance.

The third phase would be to address the dangerous intersection of Waverly Road and U.S. 12, which has poor sight lines that contribute to crashes.

Olesker said they are recommending a roundabout as the superior option to a traffic signal because it would slow traffic and eliminate the sight line issue.

“A traffic light would not solve the horizontal sight line issues, which are the main cause of accidents,” Olesker said.

The Indiana Department of Transportation would be the main funding source and overseer of a roundabout project.

Olesker said if the funding came earlier, the roundabout project could even coincide with the first phase.

Jim Eriksson, a plan commission member, wondered if a roundabout would work because of all the semi-truck traffic on U.S. 12.

“I am really more concerned about the road and the roundabout, because I don’t know how you would get a semi into a roundabout,” Eriksson said.

But Andrea Langille, an engineer from Butler, Fairman & Seufert, said that roundabouts are designed to be capable of handling semi-truck traffic.

The pedestrian/bicyclist path crossing would be placed just east of the roundabout, Olesker said.

Breanna Heath, a bicyclist, said she would never attempt to cross there without a traffic signal.

“I would avoid that whole mess. It’s way too scary,” Heath said. She noted that State Park Road or the Calumet Trail, which runs north of the South Shore tracks and is part of the Marquette Greenway, would be a better alternative.

But Olesker noted that a roundabout would slow down traffic considerably.

“Right now, that’s an uncontrolled intersection. Speeds are high,” Olesker said.

The last phase of the project would be to widen portions of Waverly Road between U.S. 12 and State Park Road.

Olesker said that much of the pedestrian path would have to be a boardwalk because it is a wetland and the Dunes Creek runs through that parcel.

All of the projects would require the acquisition of 17 acres of right-of-way. However, Olesker said that 14 of the acres identified are owned by the Indiana Dunes National Park.

Another recommendation would be to install a “Smart Parking” system at Porter Beach, which would be linked to an electronic board that would inform motorists about the parking lot availability.

Overcrowded conditions at Porter Beach and the neighboring Indiana Dunes State Park are an ongoing issue during the summer. Porter Police are frequently called in to help direct traffic.

Barry said that there have been discussions about a shuttle bus that would transport people to the beach, reducing the number of vehicles.

Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.