Indiana State Road 149
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| State Road 149 |
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| Length: | 9 mi (14.48 km) | ||||||||||||
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| South end: |  SR 130 near Valparaiso |
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| North end: |  US 12 in Burns Harbor |
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| Counties: | Porter | ||||||||||||
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State Road 149 in the U.S. state of Indiana is a major highway that, much like State Road 249, exists to serve the steel mills and their Port of Indiana in northwest Indiana. The highway runs from U.S. Route 12 in Burns Harbor south to State Road 130, 3 miles northwest of Valparaiso, a distance of about 9 miles (14 km).
Unlike Indiana 249, Indiana 149 crosses, but does not have interchanges with, Interstate 94 and Interstates 80/90 (Indiana Toll Road). In spite of this, Indiana 149 is a four-lane divided highway from U.S. 12 south to U.S. Route 20.
The interchange with U.S. 12 is unique in that it was designed for westbound U.S. 12 traffic to use an at-grade ramp and traffic light to access southbound Indiana 149 but the traffic light was never built. The need for this is seen 1/2 mile (3/4 km) east, where a full interchange brings personnel into the Port of Indiana via Mittal Steel. Onramps and offramps are located on the right sides of the busy highway, so to prevent Port of Indiana traffic from crossing two lanes of busy U.S. 12 traffic to access Indiana 149, a ramp was built instead but, as the traffic light was never added, a decade later the dangerous situation was altered by blocking off the ramp (after festering deer carcasses were found to be dumped there) and a few more years later a left-turn lane was added, though still no traffic light.
Some believe that Indiana 149 has no relation to State Road 49. The highway is physically located on the grid system between State Road 49 and State Road 51. As no odd numbers exist between 49 and 51, 149 was chosen as a compromise. Others see a relation between the numbers 49, 149, and 249.
