Letter: Elected officials CAN stand up to the Mid-States Corridor

Our elected officials representing Dubois, Martin and Daviess Counties have been hiding, trying hard to pretend that they have no power to represent the people in their districts. They claim they have no input when it comes to INDOT projects like the Mid-States Corridor. That is patently untrue. 

Fortunately for the people in Southeastern Indiana, their representative, Sen. Jean Leising, listened to her constituents and went to bat for them, asking INDOT to scrap the Link 101 project, which would have cost more than double the original cost estimate of $200 million and would have only saved 6 to 8 minutes travel time. The Link 101 project, now estimated to cost about $450 million, would have destroyed generational family farms, homesteads and businesses, forests and rich agricultural land. The project had widespread opposition from the residents of the region.

Sound familiar? The proposed Mid-States Corridor had an original cost estimate of $1 billion – and that was BEFORE any land acquisition costs were added.  With the current raging inflation, that cost could easily surpass $5 billion. That is a LOT of money that could go a long way toward maintaining and improving existing roadways.

Like the Link 101 project, the Mid-States Corridor project has widespread opposition as evidenced by the hundreds of citizens who jam-packed the public meetings and wrote letters of opposition to the Mid-States Corridor team, INDOT and government officials. 

Over 10,000 signatures from residents in this region who opposed the project were submitted to our elected officials, to Governor Holcomb, to INDOT, to Lochmueller & Associates, to the appointed (hand-picked) members of the Regional Development Authority.  The members of the RDA, by the way, are long-time cronies of the few businessmen who are pushing the project; and as an unelected board, they do not have to answer to any constituents.

Unlike Sen. Leising, OUR elected officials have steadfastly ignored their constituents, instead placing their solidarity with the few rich local businessmen who alone will gain a perceived benefit from the Mid-States Corridor. The benefit for all of the destruction to our way of life in this region?  A time savings of approximately 5 minutes to travel to Indianapolis.  Let me state that again…… a time savings of approximately 5 minutes to travel to Indianapolis.  The Mid-States Corridor is clearly not needed, and certainly not wanted.

Kudos to Sen. Leising for representing the will of her constituents and standing up against the Link 101 project.  Sen. Mark Messmer, Rep. Shane Lindauer, Rep. Steve Bartels, US Sen. Mike Braun, the County Council and County Commissioners of Dubois and Martin Counties, the mayors and town councils of Jasper, Huntingburg and Loogootee, you all should be ashamed of yourselves for not representing your constituents.  Follow the lead of Sen. Jean Leising – stand up against the mind-boggling waste and destruction of the Mid-States Corridor before it’s too late. 

Shut the project down now.  As evidenced by Sen. Leising, you DO have the power to step up and represent your constituents. 

Sue Krampe
Ferdinand