Letter: After 35 years of studies, Mid-States Corridor is still a bad idea
Since the late 1980s the people of Dubois county have suffered through four separate studies for a new highway bypassing Jasper and Huntingburg before it became a more regional route when the current and fifth study for the Mid-States Corridor was proposed. It’s no surprise that farmers and landowners along the route are especially up in arms over this as they have been concerned about losing their homes, their farms and their way of life for generations. In addition, large numbers of people who live in towns along the route recognize that a new highway will not improve any of our lives.
I grew up in Dubois County and I have lived here for much of my life. One of the reasons I was eager to return here after college back in the late 1970s was the strong agricultural, small-town appeal. I didn’t want to live in an urban area, as there are plenty of those for people who like the amenities they provide. I simply wanted a quieter life with my children among forests, trees and plenty of wildlife with enough space for a small garden.
However, not long after I returned home, a steady procession of calls for a new highway to foster economic growth began, and though this proposed highway literally went nowhere, the growth came without it. Walmart arrived in Jasper after much heated debate, followed by a parade of franchised restaurants. Stores, and other establishments. New consolidated schools, apartment complexes and subdivisions ate up farmland at the edges of the towns in the area. It took a referendum to get a new County library built in Jasper, and with it, the cultural center, which is now the focus of many community events.
Sadly, the notion that bigger is better, new is better than old, has continued to prevail, though often with much opposition. In reality, growth is often deadly, desires are not the same as needs, and bigger is not better. Small towns and farm interests have become increasingly expendable in the towns even though Dubois County is one of the top agricultural producers in the state. Despite this, an increasingly large percentage of our food is now imported and trucked in while local farmers depend on exporting their corn and soybeans much of it for ethanol or plastics production. The changing climate makes it harder than ever to make money at what they do, and I am sure that local farmers have better statistics than I do.
Unfortunately, all of this this change has been entirely based on the premise that economic growth is all it takes to have a successful life, with no thought of any of those intangible things that make a town, a county or a country a great place to live. Before deciding to fund a wildly expensive land-grabbing highway that would be obsolete before it is paid for, we should question this one-sided look at what makes a good life. What kind of negative effects would this project have on both those who would lose their farms to the Mid States Corridor route, and on all of us who live in the towns along its path? Why has growth continued here despite not having a major highway? Is life really better for anyone despite the recent growth? If so, how?
Clearly, we are ignoring the big questions we need to be asking. Who would benefit economically from any of this supposed growth? Does it make sense to replace agricultural land with polluting industrial ventures like AI generators, or coal to diesel refineries, big warehouses, or small nuclear power plants? Most importantly, what does it take to build a thriving community that works for ALL its people—including farmers, and those from all backgrounds and all walks of life?
I have no answers to the many problems the world faces, but I do maintain that after 35 years of superficial studies and uncertainty, as well as a lack of any real understanding of what the surprises the next 4 or 5 years might manifest, much less those the extended future have in store, there is still no good reason to build a new highway through Southern Indiana.
If you are interested I have provided a brief timeline of this highway below. Documentation for it as well as more in depth content can be found on the archives of the local newspapers.
Jane Melchior
Jasper
Brief Chronology of the Mid-states Corridor since the Late 1980s
Since the late 1980s the people of Dubois county have suffered through four separate studies for a new highway bypassing Jasper and Huntingburg before becoming a more regional route when the current study was proposed. Taxpayers have contributed to funding of all five of the studies, including The Donohue Study ( Southwest Indiana Highway Feasibility Study in 1980 to 1989) which culminated the building of I-69, still under construction. In addition, two other proposed alternatives have since been improved– the Frank O’Bannon Highway which cut through the HNF and replaced SR 145 from I-64 to French Lick, and a new terrain US 231 from Rockport to I-64 near Dale. Each of them were also studied, and built without any real need.
After the Dubois County route for I-69 was rejected by the Donohue Study in the late 1980s, another study was done in the 1990s for a bypass around Jasper and Huntingburg led by the Sight Committee, and this study, known as The Rust Study (circa 1993) suggested a TSM Transportation Systems Management course of action rather than a new highway and said that even if built, traffic would still be the same on the original route. Public officials were dissatisfied with this, and plans for a bypass continued into the late 1990s and the early 21st Century, when yet another study was done.
In 2002 The Earth Tech Study was authorized by local officials and it recommended that a bypass be built but did no substantive studies on any kind of feasibility. In April, 2002, a standing room only crowd filled the public meeting at Southridge High School in Huntingburg which was an angry outcry by area farmers, landowners, etc. about the bypass, as they addressed the project managers, INDOT spokespersons, and local officials. A local group Citizens for Appropriate Roads fought long and hard, and amassed many petition signatures in opposition. However, despite this widespread opposition, officials still pushed for more studies, and an EIS was begun, studying the environment on both the east and west to identify the best route. Two alternatives were identified, but a Tier 2 did not move forward despite that the Huntingburg airport was focused on expansion, because by 2004 there was no money available.
In 2012 a small group of business people including Mark Messmer, Mike Braun, and Hank Menke came up with the idea for a north/south interstate I-67 which would go from Michigan south to the border. The Cambridge Study done in 2012 for I-67 identified general estimates related to transportation and economics, but looked at nothing else. It wasn’t until 2017-18 when Mark Messmer and Mike Braun spearheaded a plan in the Indiana congress to give Regional Development Groups the power to move ahead on transportation issues without public participation that things changed. By this time, the route was re-named The Mid-States Corridor, and they were able to fund studies which looked only at the reasons to expand projects desired by only a few. The partnership between INDOT and the Mid State Corridor RDA was made possible by the passage of SEA 128, which allows Indiana counties to form RDAs so local communities can combine their resources and work with INDOT to expedite regional infrastructure projects.
“This is the first regional infrastructure RDA in Indiana and exactly what I envisioned in 2017 when authoring SEA 128 with then-State Rep. Mike Braun,” Messmer said. “We created a process that allows local government to partner with the private sector to help advance regional infrastructure projects across the state, and I look forward to seeing the possibilities this process creates. As part of the agreement, the Mid State Corridor RDA will provide $7 million in local funding to cover costs of the environmental study. Additionally, INDOT will add Mid State Corridor to its Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.” https://www.indianasenaterepublicans.com/road-funding-legislation-leads-to-indot-mid-state-regional-development-authority-partnership
In Jaunary 2021 at a cost of 7 million dollars, the Lochmueller group began the latest study a federally mandated EIS for the Mid-States Corridor. “This study will look at the possibility of a connection from the William H. Natcher Bridge at the Ohio River near Rockport via US 231 that would continue through middle-southern Indiana past the Huntingburg and Jasper area to I-69 somewhere to the north. Tier 1 Studies begin by setting a purpose and need for the project. Each alternative is then assessed against the goals set in the purpose and need. They are examined at every level from human or environmental impacts, cost benefits, even the type of roadway before a final preferred alternative is selected. Gathering public opinion and input is also critical to the process. Public meetings will start in August and continue until the final decision is reached by the Federal Highway Administration in mid-2021.” https://www.lochgroup.com/media/mid-states-corridor-tier-1-environmental-impact-study-continues-long-tradition?fdec8128_page=16
Though the Tier 1 study identified no real need for this highway, INDOT advanced it and awarded the same Lochmueller Group to do a Tier 2 Study. Now in mid-2025, despite having established no clear-cut need, we are in the middle of the Tier 2 study to refine the path, and the opposition is more intense than ever. Sadly, all of these biased studies asked only questions and looked at data that promoted building the route, and then considered anything opposing that to be opinion.
