Thomas Bartelt - Comments
Thomas BarteltOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter opposes the Mid-States Corridor project, arguing that it fails to address safety and congestion while primarily benefiting a few large companies and the Governor's private interests. They highlight concerns regarding the lack of public support, potential violations of the Farmland Protection Policy Act, archaeological impacts, and the existence of a viable alternative in I-69.
I strongly oppose the construction of the Mid-States Corridor. The studies done clearly show that the road does not address the two primary objectives stated at the beginning of the study, safety and congestion. The best reason they could come up with is it would be a better road for trucks. The study did not consider the needs of the citizens of Dubois County, focusing instead on the needs of the 15 largest companies in the county. There are an estimated 1,800 to 2,200 businesses in Dubois County, and their needs should be no less important than the needs of the companies that paid for the Tier 1 study through a constitutionally questionable legalized quid pro quo created in 2017. The Regional Development Authority which directed the Tier 1 study consisted of individuals who had a conflict of interest in favor of the road, including the CEO of the largest road building company on southern Indiana. There has been no effort to comply with the Farmland Protection Policy Act, destroying several family farms over 100 years old. There have been significant archeological findings in the path of the road that have been minimized in the report. The local county has stated they cannot provide the local match. INDOT has has to cancel or postpone nearly 400 road projects to have the money for their match. The Governor of the State of Indiana's private business would benefit immensely from this project, but has not publicly disclosed this to the state ethics board. Based on multiple polls, the public is strongly opposed to this project. The landowners in the path of this project are firmly united, and Indiana has some of the strictest eminent domain restrictions in the nation, guaranteeing years of court battles to obtain the land. There is already a major north-south route, I-69, within a few miles of the county that, with some improvements to the lateral connectors, would easily serve the needs of our community. Don't waste billions of taxpayer dollars on a vanity project for a few wealthy individuals. The reason previous studies failed to justify the building of the road was an extremely low return on investment. Where is the ROI in this report. A study that cherry-picks positive statistics and ignores the negative is a deeply flawed report.