Letter: There are better options; Mid-States corridor not needed
The Draft Purpose and Need Statement recently released by the Lochmueller Group, (https://midstatescorridor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Combined_Purpose_Need.pdf), illustrates unequivocally again that the proposed Mid-States Corridor is NOT needed and will provide NO benefit to the residents of this region. There are much better options, if folks would just use their heads.
The so-called “stakeholders” interviewed by the Lochmueller staff have ZERO property or anything else “at stake”. The TRUE stakeholders — the homeowners, farmers, landowners, and business owners — are the actual stakeholders because they have EVERYTHING at stake – their homes, their businesses, their farms, their property, their future income for themselves and their future generations. That is the major glaring FLAW in the whole Mid-States Corridor study – the Lochmueller Group NEVER gave any weight to the input from the TRUE STAKEHOLDERS, choosing instead to give weight to the pipedreams of wealthy area business owners who stand to LOSE NOTHING.
Starting on page 51 of the 111-page so-called Draft Purpose and Need Statement, Lochmueller printed summaries of the wish-lists of the following businesses: Farbest Foods, Jasper Engines, Kimball International, Masterbrand Cabinets, Meyer Distributing, OFS Brands, and Wabash Valley Foods; along with three area agencies: Radius Indiana, Dubois Strong and Huntingburg Regional Airport. You will immediately notice there were NO interviews conducted with ANY Dubois County farmers or other agricultural businesses or organizations, despite the fact that Dubois County is a large agricultural hub and is the NUMBER ONE AGRICULTURAL COUNTY IN THE STATE (see page 60).
Lochmueller also did not interview any small businesses that stand to lose big-time when traffic is diverted away from Dubois County to other destinations like Bloomington, Indianapolis, Owensboro and points beyond.
You will also notice that the companies that were interviewed have expanded and grown over the years, and NONE ever chose to locate any of their facilities near an EXISTING interstate or 4-lane highway, with the exception of Jasper Engines’ Crawford County plant located at exit 92 off I-64. If access to I-69 was so crucial, Hank Menke of OFS Brands COULD have located one or more of his production facilities on his Cool Springs property just beyond the Dubois/Pike County line on Indiana Highway 64. He instead chose to develop the property for pleasure, not production which would have been MILES closer to I-69 than his existing plants in Huntingburg.
Mike Braun and his family, owners of Meyer Distributing, own hundreds of acres in Pike County, very near I-69. Did they choose to locate ANY of their distribution facilities there? NO. They chose instead to continue to develop on the east side of Jasper.
There are a couple hundred acres south of Huntingburg along US 231 just a few miles north of I-64 that have been for sale for commercial/industrial development for a decade or more. Did any of these interviewed companies choose to locate any facilities there to be closer to I-64? NO. Did they choose to locate any facilities near Ferdinand where there is a 100+ acre tract for sale for several years for commercial/industrial development. NO, despite the fact that the location is very near I-64. Did they choose to locate ANYWHERE along the divided 4-lane US 231 through Spencer County? NO.
It’s blatantly obvious to anyone with a grain of sense that having direct access to an interstate, divided 4-lane or Super-2 highway is NOT A NEED, even for them, or they would have done it years ago. Don’t they realize that by expanding into these already-available areas they would be accomplishing TWO of their major goals/desires – access to interstates AND access to a larger employee pool? Jasper Engines accomplished both of those goals when they located a production facility in Crawford County, while still maintaining their facilities and headquarters in Jasper. There is SO MUCH opportunity for these businesses to build additional facilities along existing roadways. It would not only give them the highway access they claim they need, PLUS it would tap a whole new source of employees, bringing them in on the already-existing highways from Spencer, Warrick, Perry and Crawford Counties.
It’s especially interesting to read the interview with Jeff Braun of Meyer Distributing on pages 69-76. It’s not enough that he and his family, including Governor Mike Braun, want to destroy the lives of their fellow county residents, they are already planning to destroy EVEN MORE land north of 400 N, along Meridian Road, and elsewhere. Where will their greed end? Oh yeah… their greed is boundless. Why don’t they simply locate one or more of their distribution facilities along an existing multi-lane highway and re-evaluate their flow of goods?
And then there’s Travis McQueen at the Huntingburg Airport with his grandiose plans. The airport already recently expanded their runway to the east, crossing over County Road 200 W. According to their own studies, that expansion was supposed to take them far into the future. He is living in a dreamworld if he thinks daily international flights will come to Huntingburg, Indiana.
Dubois Strong (pages 57-60) stated that land is not available for purchase or lease for commercial/industrial development. That is not true. There are hundreds of acres for sale for just those purposes (see above) – AND those acres are near the very highways these companies think they absolutely need. Dubois Strong also stated that “there are people looking to invest despite the travel logistics problem” (page 59). If Dubois Strong thinks they can bring in more business, why haven’t they done so already? Dubois County is much more than Jasper. Land is available near Huntingburg and Ferdinand, and has been available for years.
These myopic folks think that building another road will bring in more workforce. In reality, the opposite will be true. Dubois Strong acknowledged in their interview that Dubois County businesses pay below-average employee wages. With a new roadway, the workforce will more likely flow OUT of Dubois County in search of better wages.
Dubois Strong also acknowledged that quality of life in this region is better than surrounding areas, and that “having a happy and healthy workforce” is very important. A major reason that quality of life is better here, and that folks are happy and healthy here, is because of the rural environment; plenty of good green earth, less pass-through traffic traveling from major city to major city, less crime, good moral values (well, except for the morally-corrupt, greedy business owners interviewed for the Tier2 Study).
These business owners need to look beyond themselves and beyond the confines of Jasper and Huntingburg. If each would locate just one of their facilities along US 231 south of Huntingburg, or along IN 162 north of Ferdinand, or even just across the county line at Dale, (all areas where land is already available for commercial/industrial development), the perceived congestion in Huntingburg and Jasper would be lessened; more truck traffic would be diverted away from those two cities; more employees would be brought in from surrounding communities and counties; more folks would move in to live in Dubois County and northern Spencer County; and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the homeowners, farmers and business owners currently threatened with annihilation by the proposed Mid-States Corridor, would be able to continue to live and work and pay taxes here. AND it would save BILLIONS of dollars in road construction and land acquisition costs for all Hoosier taxpayers along with our local county and city taxpayers. It would be a WIN-WIN for everyone.
Use your heads. Say NO to the Mid-States Corridor.
Sue Krampe
Ferdinand
