WASHINGTON D.C. | Household median income in Lake County has declined since 1970, and Northwest Indiana lost 38,000 manufacturing and middle management jobs in the shrinking steel industry over the subsequent two decades.
The job losses resulted in less pressure to maintain high wages in the Calumet Region, dragging down everyone else’s pay.
But the hope is that major transportation initiatives that are underway will help reverse generational trends that have stagnated Northwest Indiana’s economy and population for decades, said U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville.
Visclosky, D-Ind., is hopeful that the South Shore Line extension, the Gary/Chicago International Airport expansion and the continuation of the Marquette Plan to spruce up the lakefront will transform Northwest Indiana for the long term. The state Legislature’s $31.5 billion budget includes funding to extend the commuter train service from Chicago, the Midwest’s largest economy, to Dyer or St. John.
“Too often in the past we blame somebody else for some of the problems we face in Northwest Indiana,” he said. “In this case, you’re seeing the state Legislature and the state government act in a very supportive fashion in investment in a transportation project.”
Indianapolis has long motored the state’s economic growth, while Indiana’s rural areas have shed population. But several major projects are coming to a head in Northwest Indiana at around the same time, giving the region the potential to emerge as the state’s next big economic driver, Visclosky said.
“I can’t overemphasize the transformative change I see in Northwest Indiana,” he said. “You extend the South Shore — ultimately to Lowell and Valpo, the first stop will be Dyer or St. John — it will have an impact for 50, 75, 100 years. You continue to open up the lakefront in Whiting and Portage, and you end up with a lakeshore like Chicago. The runway at Gary after all of these years will be done by July, and I’m convinced that will be a job creator. The Gary bus system, which was going to have funding pulled about a decade ago, just extended two new routes outside the city. You combine all four of those, and you’re going to see Northwest Indiana become the next great economic engine of the state.”
Northwest Indiana can build upon its success in steel, oil refining and manufacturing by becoming even more of a bedroom community to Chicago, a $575 billion economy that’s one of the largest and diverse in the world, Visclosky said. One of 10 Lake County residents already commutes into the city for work, but the region could be a more attractive suburban enclave to young professionals if it had more rail connections.
“We’re going to essentially draw the Chicago economy all the way to Michigan City,” he said. “I think it will be hopping. Twenty-five years from now, I think it will be a different place to live and to work.”
The South Shore Line should spur more investment, likely first in new housing and later in more businesses, Visclosky said. Improved transportation will enable more people in the Chicago region to take advantage of Northwest Indiana’s lower tax structure and good schools.
More young people could stay because of greater accessibility to Chicago’s jobs, Visclosky said. The South Shore Line’s new Sunset Express has already shortened commute times.
With so many major projects coming to fruition at around the same time, the region has the opportunity to take better advantage of its tremendous assets, he said.
“With the express train, you have the opportunity to get from Michigan City to downtown Chicago in 60, 70 minutes,” he said. “The metropolitan area keeps moving and investment follows. We have on occasion whined, complained, and felt sorry for ourselves. We’re on the largest body of freshwater and a great city-state whose economy is larger than Sweden. And we feel sorry for ourselves? That’s crazy.”
Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/investment/visclosky-nwi-is-the-state-s-next-great-economic-engine/article_7cbea0ca-19dd-57a3-a797-9a47a26d2991.html