The public only has until Friday, Dec. 13 to comment on the ProPEL U.S. 30 Level 3 Alternatives, which the Warsaw Common Council was reminded of at their meeting Monday night.
Rusty Holt, study manager for the ProPEL U.S. 30 study, reminded the council in his brief summary presentation it’s been a two-year study. The Level 3 report was published Nov. 12 and they’re nearing completion of the study process.
“We’re looking toward early next year to complete the study and turn in the final report,” he said.
The alternatives analysis included three different steps with the Level 3 analysis the most detailed step of the three, Holt stated. The Level 3 screening included seven steps, which are detailed in the report, which can be found at propelus30.com.

    U.S. 30 Coalition President and former Warsaw mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer gestures during his comments Monday night on U.S. 30 to the Warsaw Common Council. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

“The Level 3 identified smaller sections of U.S. 30 as planning segments, and then defined improvement packages for each of those planning segments, and each intersection within the segment,” Holt said. “The improvement packages were then evaluated and rated to compare the costs, benefits and impacts of each.”
The U.S. 30 East study area is about 60 miles and broken into 13 different planning segments, with each segment about 3-5 miles in length. For Kosciusko County specifically, there are five planning segments, with two within the city of Warsaw.
U.S. 30 within the city is considered a major arterial. “The number of driveways and intersections along U.S. 30 results in more accidents than would be typically recommended for this type of roadway, based on INDOT’s access management guide,” Holt said.
The improvement packages were evaluated first based on the needs found previously in the Purpose and Needs study. Those were safety, local mobility and regional mobility. Conceptual designs were updated to assess the potential environmental impacts and then the estimated costs were refined.
At the end of the Level 3 screening report, Holt said, each of the improvement packages were given a rating - eliminated, carried forward or recommended.
In the executive summary of the report, in a table, all the improvement packages for all of the planning segments are summarized with the results of the screening. The report can be found at propelus30.com.
“We published the Level 3 report on Nov. 12. We’re accepting public comments through Dec. 13, so anybody from the public can comment on that. We do take those very seriously and respond to all the comments in the final version of this report,” Holt said.
Councilwoman Diane Quance, “When this study is done, where does this report get turned into and what happens to it?”
Holt responded, “When we finish our study, it’ll be published to a website again, but we’ll turn it in to INDOT. INDOT will decide what to do with it going forward. They’ll use it as part of their normal project development process, so if they see a need ... they’ll use the report as what could work in the future at those locations when they do find a need. And then that will go into their normal project development process, like when they decide what projects get funded for construction. And that’s a whole five-year process typically once it does get funded before it’s ready for construction.”
Councilman Mike Klondaris asked what they were looking at as far as a timeline.
“Our report will definitely be done next year,” Holt stated. “After that, it’s kind of up to the needs of INDOT statewide. All of their needs across the state are kind of weighed against each other with their available funding to see what needs to be built and when. So that part I have no concrete information on.”
Sandra Flum, senior project manager with INDOT, said she would only add, “The project development timeline - so once a project is identified - it’s five years before it can become construction. So, no faster than five years and that’s after the funding is identified.”
Joe Thallemer, former Warsaw mayor and U.S. 30 Coalition chairman, said, “Here we are, we’re coming down to the end (of the study). And, the most important is, a week from Friday - Dec. 13 - is the deadline for submitting comments. And the U.S. 30 Coalition has been advocating for a freeway since I sat in this room and got elected president.” That’s about 12-13 years of advocating for a freeway solution to U.S. 30.
“It’s been a long road, but INDOT and the ProPEL team have done a marvelous job,” Thallemer said. “You’ll remember when Purpose and Need came out about a year ago, they pretty much told us what we knew: That 30 is a dangerous road, it’s a congested road. The intersections are not performing at levels of efficiency that they should. So, I think we pretty much agreed that something had to be done. And, now, we’re at a point where we’ve got to figure out what needs to be done.”
He said he came to Warsaw when U.S. 30 was born and since then he’s been watching the community benefit from the asset that is 30. Industry has built up along U.S. 30 and it hasn’t stopped growing, but continues to grow.
“I was made aware today of several projects that are in the works that would rely on truck traffic access to U.S. 30. We can’t settle for a solution that may get us through the next 10 years, but as this traffic continues to increase ... it’s so critical that we come up with a solution that’s going to, No. 1, create the safety that we deserve,” Thallemer said.
As the prior mayor, he said whenever someone got killed on U.S. 30, it’s heart-wrenching because as mayor he felt responsible to get something done.
“That (safety issue) drove my passion to get to this point,” Thallemer said.
The community has taken full advantage of the asset that is U.S. 30 - housing, retail, factories, etc. - but part of that is the problem now, he said.
“The local mobility - us trying to get around either side of our communities surrounded U.S. 30 - obviously, we create a lot of that traffic. But I’m not going to say we’re victims of our success, but it’s been 52 years that that road has been completed. It was designed as a highway. I don’t think it was designed to handle the kind of traffic it’s seeing right now,” Thallemer said.
He noted that the community has been very fortunate for what U.S. 30 has done for them, but now it’s time to step up and demand a solution that’s going to create safety and improve the industrial corridor from Fort Wayne to Marshall County.