President of local road materials supplier speaks out against Mid-States Corridor

As the Indiana Department of Transportation continues talks with local fiscal bodies about transferring U.S. 231 to them as the Mid-States Corridor proceeds, a local business leader is urging them to decline the offer and withdraw support for the new highway.

Craig Knies, president of Knies Construction, Calcar Paving, and Cave Quarries, sent a letter to the Jasper City Council asking them to join him in opposing the estimated $1.1 billion project. Knies, who admitted in his letter to having personal property in the corridor, stated that he is basing his opposition on fiscal concerns rather than personal interests.

In the letter, he explained that the company had contributed funding to support the Tier 1 study of the corridor to provide information for policymakers to determine if the highway was needed. He also said that, as a company operating 40 tri-axle and quad-axle trucks that travel daily on U.S. 231 and Indiana 56, he was interested to learn how the road would benefit their operations.

“If the data led me to conclude that the construction of this highway was in the best interest of the citizens of Jasper, Dubois County, the State of Indiana, and our transportation division, I could accept the loss of our property for that greater good,” Knies wrote. “But the information to date does not support that conclusion.”

A central concern raised in the letter is the potential relinquishment of U.S. 231 from the state to the City of Jasper and Dubois County.

Knies argued such a transfer would leave local governments responsible for long-term maintenance costs without receiving additional tax revenue to cover them. Because much of the corridor along U.S. 231 is already developed, he said, a handoff would not bring new property tax growth.

At the same time, the taking of private farmland for the new highway would remove acreage from the county’s tax base. Knies said that the combination would force local governments to either raise taxes or reduce services to meet new maintenance obligations.

He also noted that the cost of necessary improvements to existing city and county roads that would carry traffic to the new corridor has not yet been disclosed.

“Why then should the viability of a State of Indiana highway construction project be reliant on local funding?” he wrote, referencing the state’s recent passage of Senate Enrolled Act 1, which he said already reduces revenue streams available to local governments.

Knies pointed to past joint city-county projects — including St. Charles Street, South Newton Street, and Mill Street improvements — as examples of targeted upgrades that alleviated congestion without requiring new-terrain construction. He suggested that Jasper and Dubois County should continue to focus on improving existing routes, including Mill Street from 30th to 36th Streets and County Road 400N.

While emphasizing that his companies build and supply materials for road projects across the region, Knies said he supports responsible public spending. He expressed concern that funding a large new terrain highway could divert resources from the Community Crossings Matching Grant program, which he credited with funding millions of dollars in local road improvements in recent years.

“I believe the construction of the Mid-States Corridor will come at the expense of successful infrastructure initiatives, such as the Community Crossings Matching Grant program, which has seen millions of dollars of needed road infrastructure repairs and improvements throughout Dubois County,” Knies stated in his letter.

“In my opinion, acceptance of U.S. 231 into local road inventories or any direct contribution to the construction of this project is a fiscally irresponsible use of taxpayer funds that will have far-reaching consequences,” he concluded.

The Jasper City Council has not yet taken formal action on whether to support the Mid-States Corridor or to accept any local obligations associated with the project. The city has entered into an interlocal agreement with Huntingburg to conduct a study assessing the road’s condition and outlining the necessary improvements and future costs if it were to assume control of the road. The Dubois County Commission has declined to participate in the study at this time and has not expressed interest in assuming U.S. 231.

Here is Mr. Knies’ letter.