Southern Indiana Business Report
JASPER –The Indiana Department of Transportation and the Mid-States Corridor project team have announced the release of the Draft Screening of Alternatives Report. The report recommends that Alternatives 2B and 3B be carried forward for further study, with additional alignment and access variations to be considered at several locations.
Alternatives 2B and 3B were selected from six alternatives presented at a public meeting in April. Both alternatives are expressways, which would be two lanes in both directions separated by a median. The Mid-States Corridor will span about 54 miles and estimated cost is more than $1 billion.
The report, available at MidStatesCorridor.com, details the screening process and why these alternatives were chosen. Environmental impact, relocation of homes and farms, cost, and right-of-way acreage were among the factors the screening considered.
Alternative 2B would cost $45.7 million per mile and would displace 46 homes and 15 farms/agricultural operations. This option requires 1,462 acres of right-of-way.
Alternative 3B would cost $47 million per mile, displace 27 homes and 14 farms/agricultural operations. This alternative needs 1,483 acres of right-of-way.
In a summary comparing the two alternatives, INDOT determined that Alternative 2B has the lowest total right-of-way, lowest impacts to agricultural lands, second-lowest impacts to wetlands, lowest impacts to managed lands, second-lowest impacts to agricultural operations and lowest impacts to identified archaeological resources.
Alternative 2B also has the lowest cost and second-best overall performance on purpose and need core goals.
The Screening Analysis determined that Alternative 3B requires the second-lowest total right-of-way, and has the lowest impacts to streams and floodplains. It also has the fewest relocations in all categories (residential, commercial/industrial, agricultural operation and public use facilities). It has the second-lowest impacts to agricultural lands. Alternative 3B has the third-lowest cost. On each purpose and need core goal, Alternative 3B has the highest performance of all alternatives.
Based upon this comparison of the impacts, costs and benefits of the Preliminary Alternatives, both Alternative 2B and Alternative 3B have been identified to be carried forward for detailed study in the Draft NEPA document, according to the report.
The report includes several maps and charts detailing the two alternatives and their variations.
Public meeting Oct. 22
A public information meeting will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at Jasper Middle School, 3600 N. Portersville Road, Jasper. At the meeting, the public can view displays, talk with project team members and view a recorded presentation. Because this is a public information meeting and not a formal public hearing, oral comments will not be recorded.
Physical copies of the Draft Screening of Alternatives Report will also be available at:
- Mid-States Corridor Project Office, 850 College Ave., Jasper
- Indiana Department of Transportation, Vincennes District, 3650 Old US Hwy 41, Vincennes
- Jasper Public Library, 100 Third Ave., Jasper
- Huntingburg Public Library, 419 N Jackson St., Huntingburg
Project office hours are every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The official comment period will close Nov. 5.