Letter: Understanding the Mid-States Corridor FEIS

I have recently read comments regarding the proposed Mid-States Corridor and the Tier 1 FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Statement). There are a lot of misinterpretations regarding the findings. If people read the entire 800+ pages and over a thousand pages of addendums as I have studied in detail, you would understand there are numerous “assumptions” and “projections” stated with very little data or research, if any, to support their findings. It is simply a lengthy document to justify and satisfy the few business and political leaders and their appointed RDA board that raised the $7 million (half of it us taxpayers’ money) to pay for the study. Since they were the entity paying for the study, of course, the findings would benefit what they want and not the residents and farmers in Dubois, Martin and Daviess Counties or preserving and protecting our environment and beautiful rural landscape.

When people bring up the concern for safety and congestion, please remember that early in the process the Federal Highway Administration determined that safety and congestion did not qualify for the purpose and needs of this potential project, so it was changed to time travel saved. And even there if you didn’t read the details, you would think you would save 45 minutes on your drive from Jasper to Indianapolis. Simply not true. The data shows a savings of 5-7 minutes.

So be careful when you make assumptions about perceived benefits for the proposed Mid-States Corridor. And please, do your homework regarding the people behind this boondoggle and you will better understand why this potentially destructive new terrain highway is a political project which it should not be.

Mark Nowotarski
Dubois County