Letter: Mid-States Purpose and Needs statement shows flawed reason for highway

In the draft Purpose and Needs Statement recently published by the Lochmueller Group, they spoke to eight companies and three agencies (all of whom support the Mid-States Corridor project) within Dubois County to determine what this county needs. 

Aren’t we lucky that these eleven entities know what’s best for all of us. 

They have shown no desire to accept input from anyone opposed to the project, only allowing comments from them after the decisions are made and the report published for review. 

In their Final Environmental Impact Statement, they buried the comments from those opposed to the road in the 28th Appendix of the report.  Since I expect them to do the same with the comments on the Purpose and Needs Statement, I wanted to make my comments more accessible to those who do not blindly accept that the government and big business know what’s best for us and there’s no way to fight them.

These are the comments I submitted on the Purpose and Needs Statement.

1. This Purpose and Needs Statement, like the FEIS the Lochmueller Group previously issued, is not a fair and unbiased report.  They seem to go out of their way to find the few people in Dubois County in favor of this project, while ignoring the concerns of the many opposed to it.  I find it particularly disturbing that, although Dubois County is one of the leading agricultural producers in the state, they made no effort to engage with the local farmers to determine their needs and how to mitigate the damage the project will cause to the agricultural industry within the county.  We have only been invited to comment after the study is completed, and then our comments have been buried in the appendices of the report. The Purpose and Needs Statement continues this by only interviewing eight proponents of the road and ignoring those negatively affected by the project.  The needs of the farmers should be more strongly considered because, in aggregate, they are one of the largest businesses in the county.
2. The route selected did not take into consideration the historic nature of some of the properties in the path of the corridor and take steps to mitigate the damage.  Our family-owned farm has been in existence since 1851, making it one of the oldest businesses in Dubois County.  It has been awarded three sesquicentennial and one centennial Hoosier Homestead Awards.  The proposed corridor would cut diagonally through all four of these historic properties, rendering large portions of the land not taken unfarmable.  There are several other farmers that will also see their family legacies destroyed.  Historic farms should be given the same respect and protection as historic buildings.
3. This project is not being done based on the needs of the community but based on the needs of a few special interests.  When the original study initial was undertaken, The Lochmueller Group was asked to justify it as needed for safety and congestion relief.  After they were unable to do so, they changed the primary needs to regional connectivity and access to multimodal facilities.  These are not the needs of the community.  These are the needs of the owners of the large trucking companies who were the primary financers of the Regional Development Authority.
4. The potential improvements in safety cited are misleading.  This report, along with the FEIS, states that there will be a decrease in the number of accidents on US 231 because of the new corridor.  This is probably true.  A study of the data shows that the vast majority of the accidents along US 231 in Dubois County occur within the city limits of Jasper and Huntingburg.  Ceding control within the city limits to the county and city will not make these areas safer, just change where they are reported. 
5. The benefits of the highway are grossly exaggerated.  The potential economic impacts were estimated using a model designed to estimate growth due to a new highway in urban areas.  Southern Indiana, outside of Evansville and the Louisville area, is a rural area.  We have had several major road projects in southern Indiana in my lifetime.  None have produced the economic impact promised when the roads were constructed.  This road would connect Owensboro, Kentucky to Crane.  Dubois County has near full employment, meaning there is not a large available workforce, and Martin County is mostly owned by the federal government, meaning there is not a large available workforce.  What incentive is there for new industries to locate here?
6. To the agricultural industry, any access route closed off is unacceptable.  Most farm equipment has a top speed of around 20 MPH.  Forcing farmers to go miles out of their way to get from one field to an adjacent field separated by the corridor makes for an inefficient use of their time and fuel. 
7. Bypassing the communities of Dubois County will have a devastating effect on them.  Most small businesses rely heavily on the traffic passing by their storefronts.  If the Mid-States Corridor is built, most of the north-south traffic will bypass the towns of Huntingburg, Jasper, and Ferdinand, causing many of our locally owned small businesses to struggle and eventually close.  Is a better road for trucks that will benefit a few worth causing hardship on so many?

In summary, I feel that this project was created and designed by a deeply flawed process that will benefit few in the community, and the harm it will cause to our local farmers, homeowners, small businesses, and communities far outweighs the benefits it will bring to a few large businesses. 

The State of Indiana should immediately stop wasting taxpayer money on a project that does little or nothing for most residents of Dubois County.  A far greater return on investment could be had by improving the few miles of existing roadways between the communities and I-69 than by destroying thousands of acres of farms, homes, businesses, forests, and wetlands for a road that benefits only a select few.

Tom Bartelt
Huntingburg