CEDAR LAKE | With the blues of the sunlit lake and sky as a perfect backdrop, local officials gathered Monday at the corner of 133rd Avenue and Morse Street to officially dedicate the completed street landscaping project that welcomes visitors from the south and east to the lakeside community.

"This is not only a gateway to our town, but a gateway from our past to the future," Ian Nicolini, Cedar Lake director of administration, said as he welcomed U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., to the ceremony.

Visclosky worked to secure the U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant of $495,000 that funded the project overseen by engineer Sandra Joseph of Christopher Burke Engineering, Crown Point.

Visclosky said the project does more than provide an attractive "visual effect."

"It's what is underground that makes a difference," he said.

In addition to sidewalks, decorative streetlights, new pavement, benches and planters, the project included installing a sanitary sewer trunk line and measures to control flooding at the intersection.

Joseph said she was excited to see the project, which helps control polluting runoff into the lake, completed for residents to enjoy.

Nicolini and Visclosky each commended the current and former town councils for leadership in the project, and councilmen past and present participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Brenda Roberts, a longtime international opera star who is originally from Cedar Creek Township, sang the national anthem.