Condemned
After many, many years of on-again off-again discussion and planning, a project to double track the South Shore Line from Gary to Michigan City, Indiana is finally underway. Unfortunately, eliminating the single-track bottlenecks will involve removal of the "Last Interurban"s most famous element- the street-running on 10th and 11th Streets in Michigan City. This will also reconfigure the 11th Street station, meaning that passengers will no longer board and alight in the middle of the street, ending the very last example of an old-time interurban practice once seen across the country and especially in the Midwest.
On a chilly, slightly hazy afternoon, a westbound train passes one of the houses on 11th St that were acquired and condemned for the "Double Track NWI" project here. The work will involve narrowing and reconfiguring 11th St for one-way traffic, and using the remaining space, plus the area of the vacated properties, to install new, double track main line, out of, but immediately adjacent to, the street. 11th Street station will be rebuilt with high-level platforms, and will re-use the old Insull-era station building, long since closed.
Condemned
After many, many years of on-again off-again discussion and planning, a project to double track the South Shore Line from Gary to Michigan City, Indiana is finally underway. Unfortunately, eliminating the single-track bottlenecks will involve removal of the "Last Interurban"s most famous element- the street-running on 10th and 11th Streets in Michigan City. This will also reconfigure the 11th Street station, meaning that passengers will no longer board and alight in the middle of the street, ending the very last example of an old-time interurban practice once seen across the country and especially in the Midwest.
On a chilly, slightly hazy afternoon, a westbound train passes one of the houses on 11th St that were acquired and condemned for the "Double Track NWI" project here. The work will involve narrowing and reconfiguring 11th St for one-way traffic, and using the remaining space, plus the area of the vacated properties, to install new, double track main line, out of, but immediately adjacent to, the street. 11th Street station will be rebuilt with high-level platforms, and will re-use the old Insull-era station building, long since closed.