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The Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Park has had about 80,000 visitors since it opened in April, according to officials. (Photograph by Jon L. Hendricks/The Times.)
Jesse and Phyllis Weldon sat at a picnic table at Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk looking out at Lake Michigan on a cool morning.
“It is just so relaxing and peaceful here,” Phyllis Weldon said.
She and her husband have been coming to the park site nearly every day for three months. They gave up a gym membership and instead walk the trails and the riverwalk daily.
Significant dates in the development
The development of the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk didn’t happen over night. It took more than 30 years to turn the site of a wastewater treatment plant and industrial dumping ground into what it is today. Here are some significant dates in the development of the park.
• 1976 - 60 acres was included in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore’s boundaries
• 1985 - U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky first introduces his idea for a Marquette Greenway Plan
•1998 - A tragic accident claims the lives of three men riding the South Shore at the entrance of Midwest Steel. A truck blocked the tracks. The accident renewed a call for a safer entry into the industrial area.
• 2000 - Doug Olson is elected mayor of Portage and makes beach access one of his top priorities.
• Oct. 2001 - Visclosky secures $2 million in federal funds to purchase the 60 acres from National Steel. The purchase of the land was preceded by the steelmakers decision to seek clean closure on the property.
• 2003 - The memo of agreement on moving forward with the Marquette Greenway Plan is signed by the mayors of Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, Whiting and Portage.
• 2003 - Construction begins on the South Shore Industrial Safety Overpass. The bridge, which would also open up public access to the 60 acres at on the west side of the Burns Waterway, cost $6.1 million.
• July 2004 - The South Shore Industrial Safety Overpass opens.
• January 2005 - The Marquette Greenway Plan is approved.
• May 2006 - Groundbreaking ceremonies are held for the new park site, marked by excavation equipment removing the former sanitary sewer plant.
• March 2007 - The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority appropriates $6.375 million for construction of Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk.
• Early 2008 - Construction begins on the site.
• May 2008 - The RDA appropriates an additional $2.86 million to complete the riverwalk and fishing pier at the urging of new Mayor Olga Velazquez.
• Nov. 2, 2008 - A grand opening ceremony is held at the park even though, due to extensive flooding a few months before, the park site is not completely finished.
• Oct. 2009 - IDNL Superintendent Costa Dillon reports the new site received nearly 80,000 visits in its first season.
The Weldons aren’t alone. Since the park opened for its first season in early April, it has had nearly 80,000 visits, said Costa Dillon, superintendent of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, which owns the property.
Its success doesn’t surprise anyone involved. They contend they knew that if it was built, people would come.
“I am very encouraged by the success of the park,” Portage Mayor Olga Velazquez said.
The numbers of visitors, according to U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, represents the desire of the people for open access to Lake Michigan. He knew that when he developed his Marquette Greenway Plan. The plan, approved in 2005, aims to recapture 75 percent of the Lake Michigan shoreline from the Illinois state line to Portage, for public use.
The park’s birth came about through a partnership between federal, state and local government groups along with private industry. Construction dollars came from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. An operation agreement between Portage and National Park Service allowing the city to operate the park is considered the first of its kind.
“The Marquette Plan was one of the major motivators for the creation of the RDA,” said Leigh Morris, RDA executive director. “No individual unit of government would be able to handle the financial burden alone. . . . It takes the vision, the resources and good leadership to implement these projects.”
The funding from the RDA, said Visclosky, was “absolutely critical and necessary.”
Portage Lakefront is not the only Marquette Plan project receiving funds from the RDA. Projects in Gary, East Chicago, Hammond, Whiting and Burns Harbor are also being partially funded through RDA dollars.
Visclosky credits the vision of those involved, particularly the five mayors in office when the Marquette Plan was adopted and successors carrying on with the plans.
For example, he said, East Chicago needed to replace its water filtration plant. It could have been replaced on its original site near the lakeshore, he said, but Mayor George Pabay decided against it.
“George sees th