(Bente Bouthier/WTIU News)
The Mid-States corridor is in its second phase of study, which focuses on Dubois County. The corridor is a highway, planned to bypass Huntingburg and Jasper, and connect to I-69.
The corridor is set to connect State Road 231 with I-69 in the north near the Crane Naval Base. Proponents say it will spur economic growth. But some residents are pushing back.
Martin and Dubois County residents gathered Dec. 5 at the Klubhaus in Jasper, largely in opposition to the Mid-States Corridor’s second round of study, which started during the summer.
Jacob McCoy, a landowner in Martin County, led the meeting. He wants residents in the area to join the newly formed Property Rights Alliance to coalesce their efforts against the highway’s planned route.
“We've identified a need to come together as a group to take control of this issue," he said to attendees. "The best way to do that is to be unified.”
The organization is an offshoot of a group formed several years ago, ‘Stop The Mid-States Corridor.’
McCoy said The Property Rights Alliance’s creation is centered around hiring legal help.
“To get actual legal questions answered," he said. "And the impetus for that primarily was through the tier one study, they weren't coming on our property. Now with the tier two study, they're showing up on our property.”
Before Thursday’s meeting, the Property Rights Alliance had over 20 members ready to push back on land surveyors for the project going on private property. After the meeting, the group reported nearly 200 members.
McCoy found an attorney, Russell Sipes, to represent residents. He says the group needs funds to support a legal defense to demand the state follow due process before going on residents’ land.
“They want to cite Indiana code that says they have the right to come on our property," McCoy said. "But if you read deeper into that code, there's certain parameters that you have to adhere to.”
The Tier One study of the Mid-States corridor determined it would follow an approximately 50-mile route north along 231 from Spencer County to I-69 in Greene County.
Nicole Minton, the Mid States project spokesperson, works from an office in Jasper that holds office hours for people to come ask questions and provide feedback for phase two. She said the project's goal is to improve conntectivity for multi-modal transportation in the area.
"Without a corridor, those goals won't be met," Minton said. "But also, the project provides an opportunity to relieve some of that congestion that you see on 231."
The Tier Two study, launched in July, cuts the Mid-States route into four chunks for more detailed analysis. The area being examined now is a 2,000-foot-wide path that goes east around Huntingburg and Jasper and extends to Haysville in Dubois County.
INDOT signed a contract with the Lochmueller Group in May for more than $15 million to conduct the study in Dubois County.
A public meeting was held in September to share progress and findings. Lochmueller created a community advisory board, comprised of business and community leaders.
“You also have field workers who are out surveying properties, knowing what the current environment is, looking at plant and wildlife species, looking at property uses, historic properties, all of those activities are occurring right now," Minton said.
The Lochmueller Group is evaluating two options to skirt Jasper and Huntingburg — a two-lane road with a passing lane, called a Super 2, or an expressway — a highway with two lanes of traffic in each direction.
Read more: Preferred path chosen for Mid-States Corridor, environmental impact study released
Minton said Lochmueller is aware of opposition to the plan. But she said people should participate so the route can reflect local needs.
“Where a facility might impact their property and how they use their property–those sorts of conversations will be really helpful to us in making decisions," she said.
Dubois County is one of twelve counties to be affected by the Mid States Corridor.
Colten Pipenger is executive director of Dubois Strong, which studies economic development and need for the area.
Dubois County is the most populous county in Indiana without interstate access directly through the county, Pipenger said.
Between 2013 to 2019, employment grew 7 percent in the county, according to The Dubois County Economic Resiliency Study. Manufacturing made up more than 38 percent of employment. The area is one of the top turkey producers in the country.
Pipenger said business, farming, and manufacturing in Dubois give it a competitive advantage. He said logistics will play a role in keeping it.
"The fact that we have a lot of businesses here that move people and goods regularly, notably the goods that get moved through our county without access to Interstate," he said.
The county’s largest businesses have pushed for a corridor because they are invested in the county, Pipenger said. But that doesn't mean they should have an outsized pull in county plans.
“However, there are big businesses that employ, thousands of people, whose livelihoods can be affected by this road or not having a road. We have to take into account a little bit of that as well.”
The corridor will affect landowners, but Pipenger said it is necessary for the long-term good of the community.
McCoy’s land is in the path where the new road could be built. He said the corridor isn’t needed. He’s skeptical of potential economic benefits and says Lochmueller’s desire for public input is insincere.
"The road is not to increase economic development in Dubois County, the road is to pad the pockets of wealthy trucking companies that have political power."
The federal government withdrew its 2004 and 2011 studies for the corridor in 2014. It stated, “Due to a reevaluation of the traffic information, the project is no longer warranted.”
The room was packed at the Klubhuas. But some attendees had concerns over the feasibility of noncompliance with land surveyors.
McCoy said people may want to see the group gain traction first.
"In the presentation I talked about, this is what you can do, this is what you should do, and then there's what you will do," he said. "That's not really up to me to decide what you should do and what you will do. I want people to understand what they can do."
He added people can force due process to slow the study down. The Lochmueller group will hold a public meeting early next year to present purpose and need findings.
This section of the corridor study will take three years to complete.
