Counters monitoring usage patterns at trails across Northwest Indiana have shown the trails are being used all year. Northwest Indiana trail czar Mitch Barloga wants to deploy more of the devices.

At $3,000 apiece, the local share for municipalities and counties would be $600.

“There’s still this myth out there that not many people use our trails,” Barloga said, but the devices send data that disproves the myth.

“Once in a while, and we have had warm days in January and February, people do go out there and use that bike,” so plow the trails, he urged.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, Transportation Committee Chair Kevin Breitzke recapped Barloga’s presentation at a recent committee meeting.

“Trails do bring in a significant amount of econ

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