Letter: Mid-States Corridor will destroy quality of life
The Stop the Mid-States Corridor coalition held a public informational meeting on January 11th at the VU Technology auditorium. The full-house event was attended by folks from throughout Dubois and surrounding counties. There are many misconceptions about the status of the proposed highway and the intention was to provide updates to all area residents. Several speakers addressed various aspects and impacts of the proposed road.
Of the five routes selected to be evaluated, the preferred route HAS NOT BEEN CHOSEN. The decision has been postponed now until probably spring or early summer.
The highway would have devastating effects on our vibrant farming community through the loss of farmland, woodlands, fragmentation of farms, and destruction of the farming heritage which is rich in our area.
The highway would cause devastating and terminal damage to natural resources, including unique and irreplaceable land features here in our communities. Acres of wetlands, forests, floodplains, and karst features will potentially be destroyed. These lands are home to many birds, bats, fish, mussels, and other animals.
The highway could destroy up to 255 homes and 50 businesses. With the loss of land to the highway, many of those businesses would not reopen. Many who lost their homes would be forced by high costs to move away.
Well over a million dollars has been spent on the studies, much of it from taxpayers. The public has very little input in the project which is spearheaded by some local business owners and politicians. It can end only by electing politicians willing to listen to their constituents.
Gov Holcomb in June 2021, announced that $75 million would be available for improvements to Highway 231 in Dubois and Martin counties. Passing and additional travel lanes, and intersection improvements are part of this. This has nothing to do with the corridor.
With more remote workers and today’s young families, quality of life is paramount. Open space, greenspace, recreational opportunities, calmer lifestyle, clean air, and low crime are critical to attracting new workers. The corridor creates just the opposite.
The vast majority of area residents are opposed to the corridor. It does not address the congestion problems in Jasper or Huntingburg. It is neither wanted nor needed. Improving the existing highways will better serve ALL residents in the area. I-69 is only 20 minutes west of the proposed corridor.
An honest look at the negative impacts paints a clear picture of the waste it would be.
Dennis Wickman
Complain to your Republican state legislature who’s pushing this through. Vote them out at the next election if you want to force change.
I assume the legislators are Mark Messmer, Shane Lindauer, and Erin Houchin. Vote responsibly!
Lindauer won over 70% of the vote in 2020. Conservatives are lemmings whose only modus operandi is “how can I inflict as much harm as possible to anyone who isn’t me”. For some folks, not even that last part is required. Someone has almost certified voted to demolish their own home or business in order to “own the libs”
The republic was built on the notion the people, and their elected representatives would make rational decisions for their own behalf’s and that of their community.
Conservatives have destroyed this ideal and it’s not the first or last thing they plan to destroy.
Members of the Indiana GOP are lemmings whose only modus operandi is “how can I inflict as much harm as possible to anyone who isn’t me”.
Fixed it for you, JK.
The vast majority of Indiana GOP members are NOT conservatives. Conservatives are not welcome in the Indiana GOP. The Indiana GOP is basically the Democrat Party without some of the more radical tendencies. How do you think Holcomb was re-elected? He actively sought – and received – Democrat votes!
Yes, Eric Holcomb is a Democrat in every way but alleged party affiliation. The same goes of Todd Huston, Rod Bray, Tim Brown, and everyone in Indiana House and Senate leadership including Mark Messmer and Steven Bartels.
The sooner you people learn this little lesson, the better off we will all be. Stop thinking “Republican gooood, Libertarian unelecccctable”. Stop voting straight R when you go into the voting booth. This is why this state is in the mess it is in. One-party rule is never a good thing, no matter which party it is.
That said, I too am opposed to this Mid-State Corridor. I could see the need for the I-69 extension which many people also opposed, but not a Mid-State Corridor. US 231 needs to be widened, a bypass should be built around Huntingburg and Jasper.
We, the taxpayers, are paying for this through the 2017 gas tax which was pushed through by Holcomb and the Indiana GOP. Demand that that money be spent wisely, not on some special road which will only benefit a select few.
Did you get your notes mixed up? The only politician who opposed the highway was Myers. I don’t think Rainwater gave a stance.
Libertarians might be electable when you can tell the difference between Libertarian A: who believes seat belts are tyranny, there should be no age of consent and is a practicing member of the first church of cannabis. Versus Libertarian B whose world view would make Dr Doom blush but still wants to participate in polite society.
I think the only Libertarian objection to the highway is that Braun/The Jasper Group isn’t paying for it themselves. If they were then they could bulldoze St Joseph Church and Memorial Hospital for all Libertarians care.
I’m not sure what brand of Libertarian you fall under but a conservative (of the trumpist variety) libertarian is a contradiction. Or more likely not genuine.
Without the Mid-State Corridor this area will slowly die as no new businesses will come in other then fast food. 2 of the large employers are now run by outside executives who do not live in the area and never will. At the same time, good jobs at both of these locations are slowly being moved to larger cities. If either one of these large companies are sold to a larger company, and it is very likely to happen with out of town executives, the white collar jobs would be lost in mass. What will you replace them with? Everyone should be come a farmer? Hold on to your farms, hold on to your houses, hold on to your land, but when the jobs are gone and there is nothing to replace them with, how are you going to afford to hold on to anything?
Trust me when I say a highway will not keep those companies here. If they want to leave they will find a reason to leave. A major company in my old hometown left the state because the owner got offended during a dinner with the governor.
The major elephant in the room for corporate attraction is for the area to attract and retain a strong workforce of which little has been done. The county desperately needs more housing and more amenities to attract those white collar workers and keep them in the county.
Yes there are other elements involved, but if you don’t have the infrastructure no one is coming. Farming ain’t going to cut it and good jobs are being bled from the community at a faster pace then people realize which continues to weaken the tax base. I’m on the downside of my career so build it or don’t build it, it doesn’t matter to me, but this area is sliding down a slope that will accelerate out of control if either of these 2 large companies sells out to a larger corporation. As our former mayor likes to say, Jasper is hiring. The problem is Jasper is only hiring for low wage service industry and fast food jobs.
In short answer/reply to this letter’s subject declaration, “Mid-States Corridor will destroy quality of life”… Poppycock! No, it won’t…not even close. At least not with the application of clear minds, common sense and history over current Chicken-Little, gloom/doom mindsets all worked up into a collective tizzie, either by lacking both knowledge/facts or the inability/unwillingness to understand and process it to a logical conclusion. And additionally, while not arguing for or against any full-scale “corridor,” for those who think 231 can just “be widened” and/or otherwise rehabilitated through Jasper and Huntingburg in ways and cost$ to actually be feasible as a viable alternative for the future…to include complete intersection redesigns, all drainage/utility repairs and improvements/upgrades plus other deep, sub-surface preparations necessary for such a project in this day/age…you don’t know WHAT you’re talking about.
Why is it that almost every pro corridor person sounds the completely insufferable “You all just don’t GET it” types without saying anything of substance?
If you are smarter than the rest of us Mac than prove it:
Please make a case why the highway would be a benefit to the average resident of Dubois county. Not just the wealthiest citizens of the county. Shaving fifteen minutes off travel time to Evansville, Indy and Louisville doesn’t seem worth the price tag both in tax dollars and what people stand to lose.
I have yet to hear a pro corridor argument that doesn’t involve vague statements like “more jobs” “trickle down economics” “GDP growth” and ideas that even in the best of circumstances would never benefit a typically resident and if it ever would, they’d be dead by the time it could ever be noticed.
Why would a typical person ever want the corridor? I’m genuinely curious to hear a good faith answer.