Northern Indiana county on way from 2 courthouses to 1

GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) - Work is poised to start on a new $94 million courthouse for northern Indiana's Elkhart County that will consolidate a court system now split between buildings in the cities of Goshen and Elkhart.

County officials held a groundbreaking ceremony this past week at the project site just off U.S. 33 in between the two cities.

The planned four-story building is meant to provide a modern facility that will improve efficiency of the county's criminal, civil and family law courts, officials said.

'œIt's going to give the public so much more access to their courts system,'ť Superior Court Judge David Bonfiglio said. 'œThere's a lot things we're going to be able to do to work cooperatively with one another that's going to make it much more efficient.'ť

County Commissioner Frank Lucchese said the new site is in the center of the county's population and will have easy access.

Preliminary construction work is expected to start either this fall or in the spring, with completion scheduled for June 2024.