Growth is great, and it’s happening in Kosciusko County. While this is terrific news for our communities, businesses, residents and workers, we need to collaboratively address our growing economic demands and prepare for future prosperity.
The success of these actions hinges largely on enhancing our main roadway, U.S. 30, to meet our increased traffic demands. We need more options for all travelers - from our truck drivers hauling our goods to our workforce commuting to quality employment. We need more options to improve the flow of traffic, more options for transportation infrastructure and more options that directly increase our safety along the roadway.
Commerce has increased along U.S. 30, since the roadway serves as a main artery connecting northern Indiana to Chicago in the west and Ohio in east. Because this commerce is key to our state, regional and local economic development, we need to address how to move semitrucks on the same roadway as our school buses.
Likewise, an increase in commerce also means an increase in workforce opportunities. Warsaw has been dubbed the orthopedic capital of the world, thanks to the four-thousand people who commute to work at companies such as Zimmer Biomet, DePuy Synthes and many others. Our workforce must grow if we want to keep that title. While more commuters mean more traffic along U.S. 30, it is crucial to factor in the schools, hospitals, grocery stores, retail shops, restaurants and gas stations that pop up when there’s a bustling workforce. We must also find transportation solutions that get us safely through traffic and on with our daily lives.
During the study, INDOT analyzed five years of crash data and found that there’s a crash on U.S. 30 230 days of the year, many of which include injuries and fatalities. Many of these crashes can be avoided if we address our traffic congestion and mobility challenges.
What are those solutions?
For the last year, INDOT has been studying U.S. 30 to identify its challenges for travelers, and found that safety, and local and regional mobility must be addressed so that we can continue to grow and thrive. The study team identified a total of 55 alternatives that could address these challenges along U.S. 30. The “Universe of Alternatives,” as they’re called, are transportation infrastructure concepts that INDOT will spend this next year analyzing and further paring down until there are a handful of potential options that could move forward.
It's critical that the public knows about and engages with this study process. An engaged public will produce better transportation solutions for the future of our community, county, region, and state. So I invite you to connect with ProPEL US 30 East, and provide your feedback on the Universe of Alternatives. These investments in our local roadway infrastructure will invite people to invest further in our communities.
Rob Parker is the president and CEO of the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce, as well as a member of the ProPEL US 30 East Study’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee. ProPEL is a transportation planning study led by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT.) ProPEL completed the Level 1 screening and analysis for the Universe of Alternatives phase of the study in December. For more information about the study, visit propelus30.com.