Mac McDonald - Comments
Mac McDonaldSupportIndividual
Summary: The commenter, who cites professional experience in street and highway work, strongly supports the Mid-States Corridor project. They argue that the current US231 highway is outdated, unsafe, and too costly to repair, making a new highway necessary for long-term safety and economic benefit.
Regarding the US231 Mid-States Corridor project through Dubois County, IN, I strongly support the project in its entirety. The current highway is/has been for many years no longer safe and sufficient for today's travel and traffic, both in numbers and types of vehicles...weights, sizes, frequency, etc. The current highway has been repaired and overlayed so many times over it's 60-70-year life...built in and for an altogether different time, purpose and population...it's impossible to know, but it cannot continue this way. To fix this issue today, the current highway MUST have relief from a new highway looking forward in the 21st century. The current highway support structures in terms of foundation, bituminous materials, compaction, et al, would need to completely deep-excavated and replaced, not to mention the various intersections and connector roads in/through Huntingburg and Jasper that would require redesign, revision and realignment plus widening, requiring the taking of frontage properties through both city's downtown areas. New underground substructures of drainage and utilities will need replacing/upgrading at such a juncture, plus new traffic control devices and new signs. When you add these costs together for the repair/replacement of an existing US231, to brought up to current safety and code standards, the cost AND the time for a project of this sort is lost on those who would opt to keep it. I dare say it may actually cost more than the mid-states project itself, and I have some professional experience with street/highway work and job-costing. Several years ago US231 was deemed the most heavily traveled two-lane highway in the state because of the in/out workforce and truck traffic during the workweek. The current road is being pounded daily such that to try and repair it cannot be done...it can only be band-aided here/there/everywhere until the next season, or sooner fails again. We must have the new highway...our lands and animals and nature will survive...and so will our cities/communities. It's indeed for the long-range benefit of all the people.