Hobart warns drivers to avoid construction

150 concrete trucks expected at 61st and Marcella on Saturday

Hobart’s road construction woes are starting to get worse, but at least a construction project in one of the areas promises to bring quite the show Saturday.

The city is warning residents and travelers to steer clear of 61st Avenue and Marcella Boulevard starting at 1 a.m. April 6, as up to 150 concrete trucks will converge on Northwinds Crossing to start what could be the largest continuous concrete pour ever in the county. All that concrete will serve as the base for a 180,000-squarefoot cold-storage facility owned by Novi, Michigan-based Lineage Logistics LLC, that the City Council approved in July.

Rumors that the Guinness Book of World Records will be out there to document the mayhem may be exaggerated, however, Mayor Josh Huddlestun said during the Hobart Public Works meeting Monday.

“Originally, we were told that it was going to be the largest (concrete) pour, then the largest continuous pour, but I don’t know if (Guinness is) actually going to be out there,” he said.

The trucks will work in concert with cranes to pour the concrete, Huddlestun said, and the trucks are expected to make nine trips each back and forth from the site to refill. The pouring is expected to last between 10 and 12 hours, he said, and the concrete will be coming from plants all over Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland.

In other business, the Board of Public Works approved four new additions covering phlebotomy, drone usage and facial and license plate reader technology to the Hobart Police training manual; as well as a contract that could last up to two years with Indianapolis-based Butler Fairman & Seufert to help the city coordinate traffic flow and disseminate that information during road construction.