Lafayette Journal & Courier

Rethinking rural routes

Some roads no longer fit as usage changes

By DAN SHAW
July 8, 2007

Ann Gerlach won't allow her children to ride bikes or walk to school, even though they live just 1 1/2 miles from Klondike elementary and middle schools.

The reason: The stretch of road from her home in Green Meadows subdivision to Klondike schools lacks sidewalks, bike lanes or even paved shoulders. Meanwhile, the traffic on Klondike Road has increased 174 percent over the past decade, according to the county's traffic data.

"Ten years ago, when we first moved here, there were cornfields," Gerlach said. "It's not safe to let my kids walk anymore like they used to."

For Gerlach and others who want to see Klondike Road made safer, help is on the way. But it will be years before it arrives.

Just designing the improvements to Klondike and Lindberg will cost more than $500,000, according to Opal Kuhl, executive director of the Tippecanoe County Highway Department. She said it's too soon to say when that construction will begin or how much it will cost.

Last month, the county agreed to pay Strand and Associates $335,000 to design changes to Klondike Road from Lindberg north to U.S. 52, a stretch of 1 1/2 miles.

The possibilities include adding sidewalks, curbs, gutters, two additional traffic lanes and a bicycle lane, although the details remain to be determined, Kuhl said.

The county will likewise pay the same firm $200,000 to design improvements and perform engineering work on Lindberg from Klondike Road to McCormick Road, a stretch of a little less than a mile in length. Kuhl said it's also too soon to estimate how much that construction will cost or when it will begin.

"It's going to be a couple of years out at least," she said. "We are just at the very beginning."

Overrun by growth

The proposed changes to Klondike and Lindberg roads are in response to the county's suburban growth. It's an example of a growth pattern, often called "sprawl," that's appearing all over the country.

Originally built as two-lane rural roads, Klondike and Lindberg have changed little over the years, but the suburbs of West Lafayette have grown dramatically.

Wabash Township, which includes West Lafayette, grew by an estimated 1,114 residents from 2000 to 2006, accounting for 16 percent of the county's total population growth, according to U.S. Census estimates released last week. Two out of three new residents in Wabash Township settled outside the West Lafayette city limits.

Between 1999 and 2001, 3,839 vehicles used Klondike Road daily. This year, traffic was up to 6,665 vehicles a day, an increase of 174 percent.

The Wabash Township Volunteer Fire Department is building a main fire station just a few yards north of the department's existing fire station on Klondike Road.

As the population of unincorporated Wabash Township places growing demands on the department, emergency runs on Klondike Road will increase.

Why the wait? Money

Gerlach said she wishes the county had added sidewalks to Klondike years ago. Susan Schecter, who lives near the intersection of Klondike Road and Indiana 26, agrees.

Schecter often rides a bicycle from her house to her job at Purdue Research Park. The trip takes her along Klondike to Lindberg Road, where she turns east. She shares the road with motor vehicles until she reaches McCormick Road, at which point she can hop on a sidewalk and eventually reach a bicycle trail that takes her the rest of the way to the research park.

Schecter said she often sees children walking along the edges or shoulders of Klondike Road. To protect them and others, sidewalks are needed, she said.

"The population here is like in a city, and the county commissioners have not kept up with it," Schecter said. "We are not providing the infrastructure for the people who are moving in here."

KD Benson, president of the Tippecanoe County Board of Commissioners, said a lack of money is the biggest obstacle to making improvements keep pace with growth.

"It is very hard to justify spending tax dollars, hoping that development will come," she said. "So what we do is wait until the development is there and the traffic counts demand improvements."

Roseann Lyle, a Purdue University professor of public health, said sidewalks and bike trails bring many benefits beyond safety. For instance, they promote good health and reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.

"I would say this community has a strong desire to provide opportunities, and they are working on it," Lyle said. "And anything that can be done to speed up the process would be wonderful."

Across the county

In addition to the proposed improvements to Klondike and Lindberg, county officials are looking at several other projects in response to suburban growth.

South of Lafayette, the county plans to rebuild and widen County Road 450 South, along which the new Woodland Elementary School is being built. The Tippecanoe School Corp. hopes to open that school in 2008.

Growth in the unincorporated areas just outside Lafayette city limits has followed the same pattern as in Wabash Township. While the city proper has gained an estimated 83 residents since 2000, the unincorporated portions of Wea, Fairfield and Perry townships just outside Lafayette have added an estimated 1,437 new residents.

The residential construction along County Road 450 South has resulted in increased truck traffic, and that has damaged the existing two-lane road, providing yet another reason to improve it, Kuhl noted.

"It wasn't built for that kind of traffic," she said.