Letter: Take a critical look at pro-corridor claims

I wish to address the claims made by a group calling themselves HoosiersForThe Corridor.com, who want to “educate the public” about the benefits the proposed Mid-States Corridor would bring to Dubois County.

I am a retired English teacher and I spent over thirty years trying to educate students about the importance of thinking critically about the things that matter in our lives, and assessing the sources our information comes from. Critical thinking involves looking at all aspects of what the sources of information are promising to accomplish, the negative effects as well as the positive, and insisting on solid proofs for the claims being made.

One of the most basic things to consider in any kind of commercial advertisement such as the above is the fact that it’s likely to use language that makes you want to buy it or into it, and often uses “glittering generalities”  a propaganda device which uses words which are difficult to define, and have no real meaning, “such as the future depends on it”, or “you need this”.   It’s important to remember that behind every .com presentation, there is monetary incentive—something is being sold, and you are likely to be given only part of the picture—one that includes only benefits, many of which are unproven or even false. It’s up to the reader to look past the empty hype of any commercial, and find the facts that are hidden.  And with this new pro-highway .com group, HoosiersForThe Corridor.com, all you have to do is click on the links to see that it’s a product of the original instigators and boosters of the highway.

This recent attempt to sway opinion and promote the Mid-States Corridor is propaganda of the worst kind. In addition to omitting any of the negatives of this proposed highway, the boosters posit that “growth” is “needed for the future” a comment which is so vague that it is meaningless. Who says? And how do they know? A study of this road was proposed and boosted by the same for-profit group who bypassed the public to get it studied, and even the Lochmueller Study presented no solid facts to justify a “need” for either growth, or a new highway.

One of the many things you need to be aware of is that local traffic—including trucks—now going through Spencer, Dubois, and Martin Counties, are pretty much doing business in the region. US 231 is NOT the multi-state route that this proposed corridor is intended to become—as that is still an unfulfilled desire.  The destinations of trucks and other vehicles which come here are spread all over the region and that will continue no matter what as long as a need for their product continues. In addition, a new bridge being built to link Kentucky with Indiana at Evansville is moving ahead. Do we really need three north/south NAFTA highways? As for safety, it’s interesting to note that Bloomington to our north recently found that most of the in-town accidents there have occurred on I-69, and most of the rest were on the feeder roads. And one has only to drive through the bypassed towns along I-69 and the new corridor in Spencer County to see that they haven’t experienced the “growth” that was promised them. In addition, they and the people whose lands are along the specific route, are often more cut off from necessary services, and the new roads are often more dangerous than the old. These things are all documented.

Now that the resistance to the Mid-States Corridor is growing, and when clearly the huge numbers of those who live here like things the way they are, as well as recognize that new highways don’t necessarily create a “better” life, the boosters are pushing even harder. We understand that many of the most polluted places everywhere are those along truck routes, especially in bigger cities, and we want to keep our rural, agricultural, small-town ambience for the mostly non-monetary amenities they provide, things like quiet and safe neighborhoods, lots of local shops and businesses, walking trails, and most importantly, people helping each other. As I watched the recent Strassenfest parade, I was reminded of the willingness to work together for the betterment of all by the large number of groups in the area who are making these things happen.

It should be noted that if this proposed highway were built not only would we lose the special quality of life which exists here, but our taxes would go up to take over the maintenance on the original highway as well as to pay off the exorbitant debt and maintenance on an unnecessary new highway. We would need more services, more police, and more services of all kinds. In addition, far too many people would lose their lands and their businesses as well as their way of life. Jasper and the other nearby towns have plenty of amenities that many rural areas don’t have. This includes access to forests, parks, and other activities unavailable elsewhere.   According to the American Farmland Trust, farmland loss has reached unsustainable levels and since Indiana has some of the best agricultural lands in the country, it is to everyone’s benefit to keep prevent more of this from happening.

Just as we can’t predict the future any better than any study, development corporation, nor even any kind of artificial intelligence, we are aware that such a concept is relatively meaningless. However, I suspect that the smaller towns such as those in the study area, which have a good agricultural component surrounding them, and hard-working community-minded residents, as Dubois and surrounding counties possess, will fare much better in the future than those places which have grown too fast just as they did in the past. Dubois County has always been prosperous without a major highway. Staying relatively small has worked consistently for this part of Indiana since the first settlers arrived here over 200 years ago.

As for the future, I’m one of many who find the vision of cleaner, greener, more prosperous towns surrounded by healthy fields and forests, with no destructive new highways promises to be far better for all those who live in and around them much more than polluting industrial and commercial enterprises, more traffic, and a countryside littered with AI generators, dollar stores, and gas stations.  Things change no matter what we do. It’s our role as thoughtful taxpaying citizens who care about our place, to continue to make sure that the changes benefit everything and everyone, not just line the pockets of a few as they destroy the very things we value the most.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Melchior
Jasper