I-67's new name identifies focus for local coalition

Huntingburg — Hank Menke, president of the I-67 Coalition, announced the portion of the proposed Interstate 67 that is located in Dubois County has been renamed the Midstate Corridor.

The name-change reflects a focus to connect the improved U.S. 231 to I-69 near Washington with an interstate-grade highway rather than the original proposal of creating an interstate connecting Tennessee to Michigan. “You eat an elephant one bite at a time,” Menke said. “This is a smaller bite of the bigger project. You got to take it in steps.”

Menke sees the overall I-67 project as something that he may never see in his lifetime, but the connection through Dubois County is something that could be done within eight to ten years.

Menke made the announcement during the presentation on the progress of the highway as it is reviewed by a special state Blue Ribbon Panel of which he is a member. About 20 people were in attendance for the the presentation put on by the Huntingburg Chamber of Commerce as part of the Business Education Series.

The Blue Ribbon Panel is charged with determining the future of the next generation of roads, railway, waterway and air initiatives for the State of Indiana for the next 10 years. The submitted projects will be graded by their level of importance to the state’s infrastructure and assigned to Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 time frame of completion; Tier 1 is three to five years, Tier 2 is five to eight years, and Tier 3 is 15 to 20 years to completion.

Currently, I-70 and I-65 have been earmarked as areas of major concern for the panel and are likely slated for Tier 1, but, according to Menke, the newly-named Midstate Corridor could have hopes of being in the second tier of projects slated for completion. “We’ve (Blue Ribbon Panel) had three meetings and some projects have already been cut and some have been added,” he said. “As we are looking at all modes of transportation it gets rather complex. The Corridor is identified as essential.”

Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann is co-chairing the panel with Cathy Langham, president of Langham Logistics. This coupled with local voices like Mike Braun — a member of Conexus, a logistics think-tank — and State Representative Mark Messmer has Menke hopeful about the project. “We’ve never had this much representation in anything in Indianapolis.”

Menke credits the I-67 Coalition with the approval of the Huntingburg Overpass Project. “I-67 is a really big concept, but it brought the transportation problems in Huntingburg into the conversation,” Menke said. “I was even caught by the railroad. I had a heart attack three years ago and got stuck on the railroad tracks in an ambulance on the way to Evansville for surgery.”

As head of the local coalition and CEO and president of OFS Brands in Huntingburg, Menke’s passion for the project has no bounds. So far he has been able to include just about everyone with any possible connection to the propose interstate route in the conversation.

Unfortunately, the potential economic impact through different areas of the state has raised political concerns and impacted the progress of the coalition’s efforts. This most recently occurred when Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne suggested rerouting I-69 through Owensboro rather than upgrading the Twin Bridges connecting Henderson, Ky. to Evansville, but Menke stated those comments don’t reflect the goals of the I-67 Coalition.

A study conducted by Cambridge Systematics, Inc., sanctioned by the I-67 Coalition, was released in 2013. That study reported the traffic on I-69 would not be impacted by the proposed interstate and traffic congestion on I-65 would be relieved. Currently, many local logistics companies use I-65 to drive north due to the dangerous conditions found on U.S. 231.

Cambridge studied the traffic patterns and economical impact of the proposed interstate in an area that extends from Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Washington, IN. The counties included in the study were Dubois, Spencer, Martin and Daviess counties in Indiana and Butler, Daviess, Ohio and Warren counties in Kentucky.

They determined the highway could see 16,000 to 30,000 vehicles per day in twenty years if the interstate was built.
The economic impact of the highway ranged from $460 million if it was a toll road and $1.3 billion without tolls.
The study stated this equates to 3,600 job-years if it is tolled and 10,800 job-years if it is not tolled. (Job-years is a tool to calculate the amount of work needed to complete a project. A job-year is one year of work for one person; a new job that lasts five years is five job-years.)
The study showed that U.S. 231 is a dangerous corridor as it stands now with truck traffic –in Indiana the highway has twice the state’s average in fatalities yearly— and the new highway could cut that number in half.
The proposed corridor would not impact I-69 traffic and would in fact compliment the new interstate.
It would relieve some congestion on I-65 on the east side of the state.
It would support manufacturing and freight businesses along the corridor. Manufacturing output is currently rising and freight industry accounts for 43 percent of total employment in the study corridor.

The Blue Ribbon Panel has met three times so far. The next meeting is set for Friday, April 25, at 1 p.m. at OFS Huntingburg headquarters, 1204 E. Sixth Street. “The meetings are open to the public,” Menke said.