Program Management for a Major Expansion of NICTD’s Service Area

• 8 miles of dedicated guideway track extension
• Led design changes to reduce impacts to federally protected recreation space
• Grant writing support to secure $355 million FTA Capital Investment Grant (CIG)
• Delivered award-winning FEIS recognized by FTA for environmental excellence

For decades, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) has operated the South Shore Line. The commuter rail system connection brings passengers from South Bend, Michigan City and Gary, Indiana, to Millennium Station in Chicago. As population growth expanded south of the existing line, the Lake County, Indiana, communities of Hammond, Munster and Dyer lacked efficient transit service to meet increasing demand. To address this gap and provide more accessible transportation options to downtown Chicago, in 2016, NICTD committed to an 8-mile extension called the West Lake Corridor.

The $944.9 million design-build project is the largest transit infrastructure project in Indiana’s history. When complete, the commuter rail service will include four new stations, 2,300 park and ride spaces and a new maintenance and storage facility.

Recognizing the scale and complexity of the expansion, NICTD tapped HDR to provide program management support, including grant coordination, environmental services and engineering through final project delivery.

Dedicated Grant Support

One of the project’s earliest and most critical hurdles was securing funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant program. HDR-experienced grant specialists navigated all aspects of the FTA multiyear grant process. We supported NICTD as it entered the Capital Investment Grant (CIG) New Starts program in 2016, preparing and reviewing documents to move the project into the engineering phase and finally securing the West Lake Full Funding Grant Agreement in 2020.

Our team’s experience with FTA grants and longstanding relationship with the agency meant that all required deliverables and milestones for the grant were achieved on schedule. They were able to confer with FTA officials throughout the process to ensure that the FTA’s expectations would be fully satisfied to secure the full funding grant agreement.

Environmental

NICTD’s new railyard for the West Lake Corridor sits on the banks of the Grand Calumet River, which has been plagued by years of illegal dumping and contamination. Challenging our design was an Environmental Protection Agency protective cap that reduced dumping and contamination. We were tasked with finding a way to flush the yard’s waste before releasing it into the river. To avoid disturbing the cap, our environmental scientists developed a two-tiered retention pond system approved by the EPA that used native plants to filter out waste and a regulator to manage the water flow.

Leading to this work was HDR’s earlier environmental services support. Our environmental professionals led NEPA environmental process, compiling the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD). The FEIS/ROD was recognized by the FTA with an Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence in Environmental Document Preparation in 2019. The HDR-led West Lake Corridor FEIS/ROD reflected FTA Region V’s “best practices” review process, fulfilling requirements for content, utility and practicality in environmental documentation. The document was seen not just as a result of the NEPA process, but also the start of the design and construction phase of the project.

Engineering Support

HDR developed the 30% design plans concurrently with environmental services. Following FTA approval of the FEIS/ROD, we prepared the design-build technical provisions that guided the project’s implementation. Our multidisciplinary teams — including environmental, civil, track, structures, systems, signal, geotechnical, traffic, parking, passenger ridership and operations modeling experts — addressed key challenges along the corridor.

Much of the 8-mile alignment is elevated to cross active railroads, roadways and waterways. We worked closely with NICTD and subconsultants through regular calls to address technical, geometric and utility-related challenges. To avoid impacts to the federally protected Dan Rabin Plaza in Hammond, our team collaborated with NICTD to adjust the alignment and elevate the tracks 25 feet over the plaza to avoid altering the recreation space.

Accommodating various elevation changes was especially challenging in the areas, requiring rapid transitions from at-grade sections under high-tension utilities to elevations over railroads while maintaining rider experience. This required close coordination between structural, track, signal and OCS teams.

The HDR team also supported NICTD with design reviews, quality assurance and risk management throughout final design.

Ongoing Collaboration

Now in the final construction phase, our team of professionals continues to support NICTD and through project delivery. Our team provides comprehensive project control services, cost management and schedule tracking. We're also maintaining consistent coordination with NICTD and the FTA to review design changes, monitor progress and assess potential schedule and budget impacts and proves regular reporting to both NICTD and the FTA.

The team is also working with NICTD and surrounding communities to reduce noise and vibrations from the train on nearby homes and businesses. We’re supporting the implementation of 10 quiet zones along the corridor in Munster and Hammond. Our team identified key crossings, obtained traffic counts and prepared permit applications now under consideration by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

Revenue service for the West Lake Corridor is estimated to begin in late 2025.