Federal and state officials have released the "final environmental impact study" for a controversial road project that is slated to cut through Southern Indiana.
The study caps the “tier 1” phase for the Mid-States Corridor: a roadway the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration want to build from Spencer County to Martin County.
Officials tout the project as a way to vastly improve transportation through the southern swath of the state, while critics say the road would be an unnecessary burden to residents, homeowners and the environment.
The new document – an update to the draft study – has been posted to the project’s website. Residents can also review it at 20 locations throughout the region, including public libraries in Washington, Bedford, Mitchell, Loogootee and Orleans, among other towns, and at the Mid-States Corridor office in Jasper.
Evansville residents can review the plans at the Lochmueller Group offices at 6200 Vogel Road.
Relocations
Perhaps the main issue brought up by detractors has been the number of homes, businesses, and parcels of land the government will have to take from landowners to make the road a reality.
In early studies, that number varied wildly depending on the possible routes the highway could take. Last year, officials announced they would go with “alternative P”, a route that would use U.S. 231 from Spencer County to Interstate 64 before branching out to run parallel with 231 for 54 miles until it reached the Crane Naval Support Activity Base.
Slight variations existed within that same passage, and officials have since pushed what they call “refined preferred alternative P,” or RPA P. And compared to earlier studies of similar routes, it could lead to more relocations.
According to the final study, anywhere from 75 to 108 residential homes would have to be relocated. That’s up from the 56 to 91 listed for the original route P in the draft study.
If you factor in businesses (6-22), agricultural structures such as barns (24-37), and institutions such as churches, schools or libraries (4-7), the potential number of relocations balloons to as many as 156.
More:'We're going to displace people': Person who worked on Mid-States Corridor now opposes road
Environmental impact
Like its name says, the study also provides updates to how the road will affect air, water, wetlands and forest.
According to officials, the variations on route P would have the smallest effect on the environment compared to other alternatives. But the road would still bring an overall increase in carbon dioxide emissions and impact thousands of acres of forest and farmland.
The final study also delves into “properties of environmental concern”: often current or former gas stations that could cause issues if they had to be relocated or built around. One problematic spot for RPA P was the former Alfordsville Gas Station. In 2021, officials removed an underground storage tank from the property and discovered contamination in the groundwater.
“This site is currently under an active investigation,” the study reads.
Criticisms of the project
While Mid-States has its proponents – including Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide – it’s also met with a huge wave of criticism from many Southern Indiana residents and entrepreneurs. Some are worried about losing their homes and property, while others are concerned that the road would loop motorists around small towns, causing local businesses to struggle.
Another detractor? A woman who used to work on the project.
Leigh Montano helped compile the draft environmental impact statement before leaving the project in 2021. Her focus was on rivers and agriculture. Last year, she told the Courier & Press that “every step of the way we looked at this, no one had confidence in the project.”
She said the existence of I-69, and the relatively low amount of traffic expected to traverse the road, made the project feel redundant.
“We’re going to displace people. We’re going to move farms. We’re going to impact wetlands and wildlife and agricultural fields,” she said in 2022. “And for what? Why are we doing it?”
When could construction begin?
Not for a long time.
The study wraps up tier 1 of the road's preliminary efforts. Tier 2, in which officials would make final decisions on location and design, could take years, the study says.
"For local improvements, some Tier 2 studies could begin as soon as one year (after Tier 1)," the study reads, "with construction activities within two to three years."
Officials haven't even landed on what form the road will take. When the project first became a possibility, the state and federal government mulled three options: a freeway, or interstate-type road; an expressway with two lanes of traffic in each direction; or a "super 2" with occasional passing lanes and wide shoulders.
The freeway model has been ruled out. A final decision on the other possibilities will come some time in the project's next era.