Merrillville streets get bumpier in an attempt to slow down speeders

Drivers in Merrillville who like to put the pedal to the metal will find the terrain in certain areas a lot bumpier in the coming weeks.

Speed humps the town’s streets department ordered are in, department director Steve King told the Town Council at its May 23 meeting, so he’ll get together with the town council to determine which roads have the worst problems with speeders on which to install them. He was also to meet Friday with the company that does road striping to prepare the humps, which are wider than bumps created with asphalt, he said.

Merrillville interim police Chief Kosta Nuses acknowledged that speeding continues to be a huge problem in town, but the department is working on beefing up patrols to combat it.

“Any time we have more than seven officers (on duty), we’re going to have more of a presence with ATV patrols and motorcycle patrols,” Nuses said. “They’re going to be a little harder to spot on the road, but while we don’t have an answer for (the speeding problems), what we can do is make it more of a penalty.”

Nuses said his code enforcement officer also has been writing more tickets for scofflaws, but according to resident Matthew Cole, it doesn’t seem to be phasing them. Cole, who’s lived in the Turkey Creek subdivision for years, came before the council desperate for a town solution.

“There are houses getting ticketed daily, and people don’t care,” Cole said. “There’s a house that has a car with a branch still on it from the tornado, and another house with about nine cars in its yard.

“I’m trying to sell my house, and I’m not going to get what I paid at this point. I have another neigh

bor who dug up his yard and put tarps on it.

“It’s just not fair, and there’s no excuse for government to let this go.”

A neighbor of Cole’s, who asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation by the neighbors, backed up Cole’s account.

“It’s not just on 68th — it’s all over town,” the woman said. “These people don’t care, so why aren’t you raising the fines?”

Also during the meeting, the council voted 6-1, with Councilman Jeff Minchuk, D-3, casting the lone “no” vote, to approve a zone change to allow Councilman Leonard White, D-7, to put in an event center/ office/union training center at 6120 Broadway.

The request was tabled May 9 among flared tempers at the behest of Councilman Shawn Pettit,

D-6, who wanted to find out whether the town could handle another event center without taking away business from the Mike Anderson Event Center at the Dean and Barbara White Center.

“I know this has been contentious, but I went through the process — not that I should’ve gotten special treatment,” White said. “But I thank the members who voted for this.”

Councilman Rich Hardaway, D-2, reminded residents that there’s plenty of American Rescue Plan Act money for them to use for external repairs and projects for their homes, so they should apply.

So far, residents have used $100,000 of the $300,000 the town earmarked for such repairs, he said.