(LaPorte, IN) - The effort to reap full potential from its lakes continues in LaPorte.

The city’s Board of Public Works and Safety on Tuesday approved a $740,751 contract for a trail and other amenities to go in along Lakeshore Drive beside Stone Lake.

 

Park Department Superintendent Mark Schreiber said the project awarded to Gariup Construction out of Gary will start in July and be finished by late August or early September.

The first step was taken last year when motor vehicle travel on Lakeshore Drive was reduced to one way from Craven Drive to Grangemouth Road.

 

The existing surface will be taken out and replaced with new asphalt. Schreiber said one side will be strictly for vehicles. A 10-foot wide trail will be on the other side with a median separating both lanes, he said. Other amenities include scenic overlooks with some extending out into the lake for tying off a boat or kayak. Native plants will also go in to further dress up a shoreline where unsightly stone and concrete slabs were dumped years ago to help with flood control.

 

 “It’s just not very attractive for what is really one of the most beautiful, pristine inner-city lakes in the state,” Schreiber said. Leigh Morris of 424 Lakeshore Drive said he welcomes the changes to what’s been sort of a neglected shoreline. “I think people see it’s going to make it an even nicer area,” he said. 

 

Similar work has already occurred along Clear Lake featuring a trail created by closing Hoelocker Drive to vehicular traffic and designated parking for fishing. 200 resort-type condominiums along Clear Lake are scheduled to start going up next month. 

 

Schreiber said the work beside Stone Lake is part of the strategy for making LaPorte healthier physically and economically. “We’re going to really have a great diamond there, something we can really polish and open up to those neighborhoods and well as the entire community,” he said. A grant from the Healthcare Foundation of LaPorte is paying the brunt of the cost, he said.