Letter: Waste, fraud and abuse in the Mid-States Corridor project
Waste, fraud, and abuse have become buzzwords in today’s society, and they are buzzwords that can certainly be used to describe the Mid-States Corridor Project. How do they apply?
There is much waste being designed into the Mid-States Corridor project. The biggest waste is the duplication of an existing road, just 20-25 miles from the county, I-69. Long-distance traffic has a choice of two Interstates, I-65 and I-69. The corridor would duplicate the route of I-65 from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Indianapolis. The mileage from Bowling Green to Indianapolis using I-65 is 226 miles. The Mid-States Corridor would be approximately 255 miles. That means that if the reason for building the road is fuel efficiency, it will only benefit traffic originating north of Bowling Green or south of Indianapolis along I-69. The volume of traffic that matches this description is too low to justify a new road. A better use of taxpayer money would be to improve the connections to I-69 using existing right-of-way. Huntingburg is 25 miles from I-69 and Jasper is 21 miles. It makes much more sense to spend a few million dollars to improve the existing roads on the right-of-way the state already owns than to spend billions on a new terrain highway, requiring the state to spend millions of dollars to take thousands of acres of land away from people who just want to live their lives peacefully in the homes they have built for their families. It is also waste to claim you need a 500-foot right-of-way for a road that could easily be built in a 200-foot right-of-way, thereby spending 2 ½ times the amount of money necessary for land acquisition and costing local government millions in property tax revenue that they can only make up by increasing everyone’s taxes.
As far as fraud, what do you consider touting a bill as allowing public-private partnerships, then weaponizing it to allow a few private companies to essentially buy the rights to put in a road without justifying the need for the road before spending millions on an environmental study, stacking the Regional Development Authority with members in favor of the road, ignoring the concerns of those it will harm and the small businesses of the county, and refusing to publicly answer questions about what you are doing. The citizens of our county deserve an open and above-board process, not one where decisions are made in corporate boardrooms and government offices away from the public. It is also not entirely above the board that, when asked to study if Governor Holcomb’s $75 million improvement project for US 231 would meet most of the objectives of the new corridor, you make it unfeasible by adding in the widening of Newton Street to five lanes through Jasper, something that was not in the proposal.
It is certainly abuse to allow private companies to be able to access the eminent domain power of the state government for a road that benefits them at the expense of so many others who will be losing their homes, farms, businesses, and family legacies. It may be officially a state project, but it would never have started without the millions of private dollars donated to the Regional Development Authority, most of it anonymously. If they are so in favor of this road, why will they not allow us to know who they are?
It is time to take a stand against the nameless individuals and companies, and the governmental departments and officials trying to shove this totally unneeded and unwanted project down our throats. Write your federal, state, and local governmental officials to let them know we want this monstrosity stopped. Display your opposition with yard signs, bumper stickers, shirts, and hats. Attend public meetings to make your displeasure known. Join the Property Rights Alliance or send a donation to help us fight the big-money backers of the Mid-States Corridor.
Tom Bartelt
Huntingburg
