State Road 53 (SR 53) is a part of the
Indiana State Road that runs between
Crown Point and
Gary in the US state of
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. The of SR 53 that lie within Indiana is also known as Broadway. None of the highway is listed on the
National Highway System. Most of the road is an urban four-lane undivided highway, passing through residential and commercial properties.
Route description
![Glen Park, Gary, Indiana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Glen_Park%2C_Gary%2C_Indiana.jpg)
SR 53 heads north from the southern terminus at
U.S. Route 231 (US 231), concurrent with Broadway. The road is two-lane highway passing through a farmland with residential house. The highway becomes a four-lane divided highway, still passing through a mix of farmland and residential, at 93rd Avenue. As the route enters
Merrillville
Merrillville is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 35,246 at the 2010 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville became the ...
the farmland and residential turns into commercial properties. In Merrillville the road has a traffic light at
US 30 . North of US 30 the road becomes a for-lane undivided highway with a center turn lane as it passes through commercial properties. At 73rd Street the route begins to enter a more residential area with few commercial properties. The highway crosses a set of railroad tracks on the north side of Merrillville. North of Merrillville the road enters
Gary and passes through a mix of residential and commercial properties, staying as a four-lane undivided highway with a center turn lane. The road crosses a signal railroad track and has a traffic light at Ridge Road (old
US 6). North of 33rd Avenue the road becomes a four-lane undivided highway without a center turn lane, as the road passes through a mostly wooded area. The route has an interchange with
Borman Expressway (
Interstate 80 (I–80) and
I–94). The highway heads north towards
downtown Gary
Downtown Gary is split by Broadway into two separate neighborhoods in north-central Gary, Indiana. Emerson and Downtown West combine to form what is known as Downtown Gary. It was part of the original plat built by the United States Steel Corpor ...
passing three single track railroad crossings. In downtown Gary the route has an intersection with the one-way streets of Fifth Avenue, eastbound
US 12/
US 20 and Fourth Avenue, westbound US 12/US 20. North of Fourth Avenue the road passes under the
Shore Shore line, a
Commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...
line. After passing the South Shore line the highway has an interchange with the
I–90/
Indiana Toll Road
The Indiana Toll Road, officially the Indiana East–West Toll Road, is a tolled freeway that runs for east–west across northern Indiana from the Illinois state line to the Ohio state line. It has been advertised as the "Main Street of the ...
. This interchange is the north terminus of SR 53, but Broadway continues north passing under three sets of railroad tacks. Broadway ends at a security gate for the main entrance of
Gary Works
The Gary Works is a major steel mill in Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel ...
owned by
U.S. Steel.
No part of SR 53 is included as a part of the
National Highway System (NHS).
The NHS is a network of highways that are identified as being most important for the economy, mobility and defense of the nation.
The highway is maintained by the
Indiana Department of Transportation
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Indiana charged with maintaining and regulating transportation and transportation related infrastructure such as state owned airports, state highways a ...
(INDOT) like all other state roads in the state. The department tracks the traffic volumes along all state highways as a part of its maintenance responsibilities using a metric called
average annual daily traffic
Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a ...
(AADT). This measurement is a calculation of the traffic level along a segment of roadway for any average day of the year. In 2010, INDOT figured that lowest traffic levels were the 10,470 vehicles and 490 commercial vehicles used the highway daily on a section between US 231 and 113th Avenue south of Merrillville. The peak traffic volumes were 29,200 vehicles and 1,460 commercial vehicles AADT along a section of SR 53 between 35th Avenue and Borman Expressway in Gary.
History
SR 53 used to terminate at
US 52
U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...
in
Montmorenci where it followed the current routing of US 231 to Crown Point.
In 1952, when US 231 was commissioned in Indiana, SR 53 became concurrent with US 231 to Crown Point. The routing stayed the same until SR 53's southern terminus was truncated to Crown Point in 1973 in favor of US 231.
Major intersections
See also
*
*
References
External links
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053
Transportation in Gary, Indiana
Northwest Indiana
Transportation in Lake County, Indiana