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Letter: Mid-State Corridor vital for economic success

ByLetter to the Editor Reading Time: 2 minutes

Simply put, government spending does not drive economic development.

I can point you to multiple studies by multiple people but at a high level it is a zero sum gain.

Government takes from you and spends it on X. Even infrastructure, which is what government does well, does nothing to drive growth in or around our community. The people drive growth, be it you or me, in whatever color collar role we got

With the brain drain, a lack of skilled workers threatens our economic growth. To secure the economic future in our area though, we need to support the former I-67 infrastructure project, known as the Mid-State Corridor project.

What? I thought you were always talking about cutting government spending, not increasing government spending.

I am, but let me explain. I know that a road is a road. It does not drive economic growth. It costs money to build, maintain, and operate. It will be expensive. The 22 miles of road, in Dubois County, breaks down this way:

  • A two-lane Super Two, like the road by Holland, will be around $195 million.
  • A four-lane road, like down in Spencer county, is around $330 million.
  • A full-fledged interstate would be around $390 million.

There is a point to this. This road is about securing the economic future. Unlike the beautification projects going on locally, this road will actually give the area the ability to hold firm onto what we have and then it becomes the #1 or #2 asset for future economic growth. See, economic growth is about assets companies seek for.

A wise business man once told me that companies seek out areas with great infrastructure and widespread high speed internet access to go with a good workforce.

Currently our county has these good assets (not in any order):

  • County airport.
  • I-64.
  • Jasper and Huntingburg with high speed internet.
  • A great workforce.

Our long term economic growth is about how we move from good to great. One step being taken is our county airport having plans to lengthen the runway to 6000 feet, which will offer full operational capacity to most corporate aircraft.

While I-64 is a good road for us, to secure the future, we need to have a safe, uninterrupted driving connection between Indianapolis and Nashville. This would be the Mid-State corridor.

Should we mortgage the future for it? No. Government needs to live within its fiscal means and not creeping past its limited boundaries. All of us need to work together to prioritize what our government spends on what to secure our economic future here where we live. It is about having skin in the game for the road to get built. This means businesses getting involved and us accepting some sort of user fee, etc.

The Mid-State corridor is the most important local project we have. This project is something we as a community should come together to support.

Adrian Engelberth
Jasper, Ind.

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