Opinion: The business side of the Mid-States Corridor

Proponents of the Mid-States Corridor continue to bring up the potential economic benefits, the growth that will result, and the “business need” for this project. So, let’s look at it from a business perspective. During my professional business career, I worked on several strategic business plans. Part of the process included doing a S.W.O.T. analysis. It is a tool to identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Let’s do a quick analysis of the proposed Mid-States Corridor project.

Strengths – limited faster travel for freight; some travel time saved.

Weaknesses – negative impacts on the environmental; cost; loss of homes and farms; reduced access for rural residents.

Opportunities – use existing roads with improvements for truck routes; add passing lanes to the existing U.S. 231 and improve some intersections.

Threats – added future costs to the counties and towns to support a new-terrain highway; added opportunity for more drug and human trafficking; worsening public health; loss of tax revenue; public awareness/opposition.

In summary, the results of the SWOT analysis indicate it is very difficult to justify continued exploration of a new highway.

Another tool is to do simple Pros versus Cons. In the case of the Mid-States Corridor, I would title it as Benefits versus Detriments.

Benefits – truck mobility and connectivity; travel time; may help existing distribution businesses.

Detriments – destroying prime farmland, forest, homes, and natural habitat displacement; will cause more environmental issues including pollution, climate, and public health; travel time saved is very minimal versus the investment; costs could end up being over $2-3 billion; added issues and costs to counties and towns; tax revenue losses.

Then there is the ROI (return on investment) calculation. In this case nothing in the Tier 1 Final Environmental Impact Statement, or the Tier 2 preliminary Purpose and Need report shows any indication of an ROI analysis. What is needed is to accurately determine the overall cost of construction, land and property acquisition, loss of property taxes and loss of other revenue, added costs to the towns and counties against the gains in business revenue and growth. However, it is impossible to do an ROI without actual, real data which is not available. In business terms, this project would be put on the shelf as a NO GO.

The real answer here is this proposed project is only a want, and the need is not justified by any means. There is no sound data to indicate a new-terrain highway will bring economic development or benefit the bypassed communities, only estimates or projections. It is an unjustified use of taxpayer dollars. I would define this proposed project in the category of another highway Ponzi Scheme – a fraudulent investment scheme.

Mark Nowotarski
Dubois County