Bikers and walkers who don’t love crossing north on Ridge Road or navigating Indianapolis Boulevard to get to Wicker Park now have a circuitous route of sorts on which to travel.
Earlier this month, officials from the towns of Munster and Highland declared open the Bridges Over Ditches project, a joint effort between the two towns and NIPSCO. Comprising two bridges over the Hart Ditch and Cady Marsh Ditch, the new pathway connects the Fisher Street trail in Munster to Brantwood Park in Highland, according to the Town of Munster’s web page.
The project, which had been dreamt about, discussed, planned and replanned for more than 20 years, is the kind of project Mitch Barloga, active transportation manager for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, can get behind.
“I’ve seen a lot of projects in my years with NIRPC, and when you have a collaboration like the one you have here, it never fails,” Barloga told the crowd of more than 40 attendees at the June 15 event. “This one is important for a lot of reasons, and not just the environment and health benefits. It’s great for homeowner and business values, too.
“It’s the first direct pathway with better access from Munster to the Lincoln Center. It’s bridging communities together.”
The towns had been talking to NIPSCO for at least eight to 10 years, and the utility was happy to make sure there was a safe solution that would also allow foe it to make repairs to its transmission lines when needed, NIPSCO Public Affairs Manager Rick Kalinski said.
“Improvements like this are one way we can give back and be part of the community we serve,” he said.
The pathway, on which the towns broke ground in September, starts at the Pennsy Greenway near the Illinois/Indiana state line and proceeds east into Highland through the NIPSCO high-tension wire and multiple pipeline corridor running from between the two ditches south to Martha Street, providing better access for those areas of Highland and Munster, according to Munster’s web site. The Indiana Department of Transportation awarded the project in May 2025 to Gariup Construction Company Inc. at a cost of just under $1.8 million.
The project was funded by a state Transportation Enhancement award from the State of Indiana that covered 80% of the project while Highland and Munster equally split the 20% local match, the web site said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
