Hasse Construction was awarded a nearly $33 million dollar contract from INDOT to replace the existing northbound I-65 Kankakee Welcome Center facility that is nearly 40 years old. The new facility will be fully ADA compliant, energy efficient and feature modern restrooms, electronic tourism displays, public art, expanded parking, walking trails and a natural wetlands area, according to INDOT.
The design of the new welcome center revolves around the wind generation industry, the dunes and Lake Michigan. Interactive displays inside the building will exhibit monarch butterflies, a herd of buffalo, sandhill cranes and wind generation. Seven individual art murals will be commissioned and painted on wind turbine blades that will rise up out of the lake built adjacent to the building. Read more here from the groundbreaking.