County Hears Report On Need For 'Western Route'
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Why does the county need a Western alternative route?
Representatives of Warsaw, Kosciusko County and The Troyer Group presented information Tuesday that they gathered to answer just that question.
The meeting was one step in the process the project has to go through before the Indiana Department of Transportation will accept the project, said Steve J. Benczik, senior civil engineer/project manager for The Troyer Group.
Reasons highlighted for the need for the project included: traffic is projected to increase in the Warsaw area based on past historical trends and potential land uses; in downtown Warsaw, approximately 28 percent of the daily traffic northbound and 20 percent southbound on Ind. 15 is trucks; portions of Ind. 15 in downtown Warsaw have unacceptable levels of service; the crash rates indicate that two of the three segments of Ind. 15 in Warsaw are above the statewide average rate for urban principal arterials; potential safety hazards and roadway deficiencies exist on Ind. 15, Ind. 25, CR 150, CR 400 and Fox Farm Road; and projected employment and population growth within the corridor are contributing to increased traffic demand.
The Western Alternate Corridor Study Project is in Kosciusko County, west of and including Ind. 15 from CR 450S to the north county line. The corridor study area encompasses portions of Jefferson, Prairie, Harrison, Van Buren, Plain and Wayne townships. The study area is approximately 72 square miles.
In fall 2001, a corridor study work plan was developed. Last summer, an inventory of existing road conditions was conducted and completed, Benczik said. Existing and proposed land use conditions also were evaluated in the summer. During the winter, future travel demands and capacity were analyzed.
The next step, Benczik said, will be to identify feasible alternatives. "That meeting will probably be in a couple months," he said.
Along with proposed alternate routes, INDOT also will require the study to look at what will happen if no new corridor is built and what the county will look like if just the current roads, including Ind. 15, are updated. The goals, Benczik said, will be to minimize displacement and minimize environmental and agricultural impacts. Cost is a big factor in what the county decides to do, county commissioner Ron Truex said several times during the meeting.
After the options are reviewed, a preferred alternative will be established and presented to the public, then a corridor study document will be prepared.
Public involvement is very important to the project, Benczik said.
Dan Richard, Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission director, spoke about the county's comprehensive plan and how that helps the plan commission and county board of zoning appeals make decisions. "We do have a series of goals and objectives for Kosciusko County right now," he said. In the past, the county has been reactionary to planning and zoning matters, but with the Western Alternative Route Corridor Study, the county has had to look toward the future.
Early in the process of the study, said Warsaw City Planner Jeff Noffsinger, they recognized the importance of having a land use plan in place for this project. He said they wanted to have a plan in place where they could see where the residential, commercial and industrial growth will be in Warsaw and in the county and plan for such growth. Of course, he said, there are unknowns, but they did the best they could with the information they had.
"It was very difficult from our standpoint because we were estimating based on a 13 percent growth," Noffsinger said.
Joy McCarthy-Sessing, Kosciusko County/Warsaw Chamber of Commerce, presented information on the city's and county's population.
In 1990, Kosciusko County had a population of 63,924 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, while Warsaw had a population of 10,968. In 2000, the county had a population of 74,057, with Warsaw having a population of 12,415. Both represented a 13 percent growth. In 2020, the population of the county is estimated to be 94,563, with Warsaw's population estimated at 15,853. McCarthy-Sessing said Kosciusko County ranked 19th in Indiana in population in 2000 out of 92 counties. The county's growth rate of 13 percent ranks the county 24th in the state. Eleven counties in the state lost population from 1990 to 2000.
As for total employment in the county, there were 37,040 persons employed in 1990; 44,480 employed in 2000; and an estimated 59,587 persons are expected to be employed in 2020.
"People are coming here to work," McCarthy-Sessing said. "Why? Because our companies are growing." Industry wants to go where the communities want them and will support them. Kosciusko County is in competition with other communities for companies, not just in the state, but national and worldwide.
"We either get our ducks in a row or we don't grow. If we don't grow, we wither," she said.
The median income in Kosciusko County is just above $43,000, ranking the county 19th in the state.
"We have a lot of good local, national and international companies. They don't need to be here," she said, so the county needs to work to keep them here.
Joe DeFronzo, of The Troyer Group, presented information on the county's and city's transportation demand and capacity. From 2002 to 2022, he said, the projected level of service of roads such as U.S. 30, CR 150W, CR 200W, Fox Farm Road, Ind. 15, Ind. 25 and others will deteriorate if nothing is done to address the growing traffic demands.
"It's not going to get better, it's going to get worse," said Benczik. [[In-content Ad]]
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Why does the county need a Western alternative route?
Representatives of Warsaw, Kosciusko County and The Troyer Group presented information Tuesday that they gathered to answer just that question.
The meeting was one step in the process the project has to go through before the Indiana Department of Transportation will accept the project, said Steve J. Benczik, senior civil engineer/project manager for The Troyer Group.
Reasons highlighted for the need for the project included: traffic is projected to increase in the Warsaw area based on past historical trends and potential land uses; in downtown Warsaw, approximately 28 percent of the daily traffic northbound and 20 percent southbound on Ind. 15 is trucks; portions of Ind. 15 in downtown Warsaw have unacceptable levels of service; the crash rates indicate that two of the three segments of Ind. 15 in Warsaw are above the statewide average rate for urban principal arterials; potential safety hazards and roadway deficiencies exist on Ind. 15, Ind. 25, CR 150, CR 400 and Fox Farm Road; and projected employment and population growth within the corridor are contributing to increased traffic demand.
The Western Alternate Corridor Study Project is in Kosciusko County, west of and including Ind. 15 from CR 450S to the north county line. The corridor study area encompasses portions of Jefferson, Prairie, Harrison, Van Buren, Plain and Wayne townships. The study area is approximately 72 square miles.
In fall 2001, a corridor study work plan was developed. Last summer, an inventory of existing road conditions was conducted and completed, Benczik said. Existing and proposed land use conditions also were evaluated in the summer. During the winter, future travel demands and capacity were analyzed.
The next step, Benczik said, will be to identify feasible alternatives. "That meeting will probably be in a couple months," he said.
Along with proposed alternate routes, INDOT also will require the study to look at what will happen if no new corridor is built and what the county will look like if just the current roads, including Ind. 15, are updated. The goals, Benczik said, will be to minimize displacement and minimize environmental and agricultural impacts. Cost is a big factor in what the county decides to do, county commissioner Ron Truex said several times during the meeting.
After the options are reviewed, a preferred alternative will be established and presented to the public, then a corridor study document will be prepared.
Public involvement is very important to the project, Benczik said.
Dan Richard, Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission director, spoke about the county's comprehensive plan and how that helps the plan commission and county board of zoning appeals make decisions. "We do have a series of goals and objectives for Kosciusko County right now," he said. In the past, the county has been reactionary to planning and zoning matters, but with the Western Alternative Route Corridor Study, the county has had to look toward the future.
Early in the process of the study, said Warsaw City Planner Jeff Noffsinger, they recognized the importance of having a land use plan in place for this project. He said they wanted to have a plan in place where they could see where the residential, commercial and industrial growth will be in Warsaw and in the county and plan for such growth. Of course, he said, there are unknowns, but they did the best they could with the information they had.
"It was very difficult from our standpoint because we were estimating based on a 13 percent growth," Noffsinger said.
Joy McCarthy-Sessing, Kosciusko County/Warsaw Chamber of Commerce, presented information on the city's and county's population.
In 1990, Kosciusko County had a population of 63,924 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, while Warsaw had a population of 10,968. In 2000, the county had a population of 74,057, with Warsaw having a population of 12,415. Both represented a 13 percent growth. In 2020, the population of the county is estimated to be 94,563, with Warsaw's population estimated at 15,853. McCarthy-Sessing said Kosciusko County ranked 19th in Indiana in population in 2000 out of 92 counties. The county's growth rate of 13 percent ranks the county 24th in the state. Eleven counties in the state lost population from 1990 to 2000.
As for total employment in the county, there were 37,040 persons employed in 1990; 44,480 employed in 2000; and an estimated 59,587 persons are expected to be employed in 2020.
"People are coming here to work," McCarthy-Sessing said. "Why? Because our companies are growing." Industry wants to go where the communities want them and will support them. Kosciusko County is in competition with other communities for companies, not just in the state, but national and worldwide.
"We either get our ducks in a row or we don't grow. If we don't grow, we wither," she said.
The median income in Kosciusko County is just above $43,000, ranking the county 19th in the state.
"We have a lot of good local, national and international companies. They don't need to be here," she said, so the county needs to work to keep them here.
Joe DeFronzo, of The Troyer Group, presented information on the county's and city's transportation demand and capacity. From 2002 to 2022, he said, the projected level of service of roads such as U.S. 30, CR 150W, CR 200W, Fox Farm Road, Ind. 15, Ind. 25 and others will deteriorate if nothing is done to address the growing traffic demands.
"It's not going to get better, it's going to get worse," said Benczik. [[In-content Ad]]