Letter: Statistical modeling versus the true impact

Based on statistical modeling, the Mid-States Corridor Project is forecasting hundreds of millions in economic development and hundreds of new jobs.  As Mark Twain once famously said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics”.  None of the forecast economic growth is guaranteed. 

What is guaranteed:

Hundreds of people will be forced to leave their family homes.

Hundreds of acres of cropland will be forever lost, much of it left to become overgrown in invasive and noxious vegetation due to the poor maintenance of the unneeded right of way being designed into the project.

Farmers will lose millions of dollars in income and have higher production costs due to the loss of acreage and having their farms divided by a limited-access highway.

Small businesses will see fewer customers as the traffic speeds around the towns instead of passing by their storefronts.

Many will have to travel much farther to work, shop, and visit friends and family due to county roads being cut off and limited access to the county’s primary north-south highway having only a few points of access.

Taxes will increase to make up for the lost property tax revenue the county, schools, and libraries, and volunteer fire departments depend upon.

Homeowner insurance rates will increase because of the increased distances and longer response times much of the county will experience due to country roads being dead-ended.

Many historic family farms, some nearly 200 years old, will be devastated.

Wildlife such as coyotes and skunks will be seen more frequently in your neighborhood due to the destruction of their rural habitat.

Everyone living near the proposed corridor will have their quiet, peaceful lives filled with the sound of heavy trucks passing near their homes at all hours of the day and night.

Are we willing to lose all of this so a few big businessmen can profit with the aid of their political allies who have forgotten who they were elected to serve?  They may tell you the decision has already been made to build the road, but that is not true.  The decision was made to take the next step in the project to get the road built.  There is no money and no right-of-way to build the corridor.  Until the proponents have these, there is no road. It can still be stopped, and we will continue to do everything we can to stop it.  We are asking everyone opposed to this project to join us.  Together, we can make a difference.

Tom Bartelt
Huntingburg