Beginning Monday, August 28, 2023, the Indiana Department of Transportation will temporarily close the intersection of Columbia Avenue and Summer Street for utility relocations and road reconstruction for 60 days as part of the Summer Street Reconstruction Project. Motorists should consider using Calumet Avenue or Indianapolis Blvd when travelling north or south. Drivers traveling east and west should consider using Michigan Street or 165th Street. Summer Street westbound will be diverted to State Street at Grant Avenue.
The project is a $14 million reconstruction of Summer Street from Columbia Avenue to Indianapolis Blvd that includes new utilities, sidewalks, curb and gutter and funded through a grant from the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission and local match from the City of Hammond, Hammond Water Works Department and the Hammond Sanitary District.
“We thank NIRPC for their help in funding this vital project for the City of Hammond,” said Mayor Thomas M. McDermott, Jr. “Not only is Hammond improving their transportation network, but this is the first step in improving storm sewer separation that will help the area known as Blackmun’s Addition which was an area severely impacted by the May 23, 2020 storm that dumped over 4” of rain in one hour in Hammond.” Blackmun’s Addition is the subdivision east of Columbia between Summer Street and the Norfolk Southern railroad.