Whoever the next governor of Indiana is, current Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb said it’s crucial that they get on board with the U.S. 30 freeway project.
“I think it’s critically important that 30 comes to fruition, and it’s an immensely important corridor that speaks to not just the potential but the demand for growth in an area like this,” he said. “I mentioned how special this community is. The same can be said going across the northern part of our state. It’s beautiful, it’s safe, it’s high-quality of life, and businesses increasingly are wanting to grow where people want to live. And so, it’s really a win-win-win when we get done with all the due diligence on 30 and get busy finishing it.”
Holcomb said the commitment is key for planning purposes “and then you get to realize the vision - critically, in one word.”
Holcomb offered his comments in a brief meeting with reporters Thursday after presenting Winona Lake Town Manager Craig Allebach with the Sagamore of the Wabash at the Winona Heritage Room. A U.S. Summit took place a day before, Wednesday, at the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion, hosted by the U.S. 30 Coalition.
Indiana governor candidates are Republican Mike Braun, Democrat Dr. Jennifer McCormick, Libertarian Donald Rainwater and Independent Christopher Stried.
The Indiana Department of Transportation is undergoing a study of U.S. 30 from Valparaiso to the Ohio state line. The study seeks to propel the communities in the seven counties along U.S. 30 forward by using a collaborative approach to address the transportation issues and desired outcomes that have been identified for each study area, according to the website propelus30.com.
During the U.S. 30 Summit, Zimmer Biomet CEO Ivan Tornos and Steel Dynamics Senior Vice President Chris Graham both stressed the importance of U.S. 30 becoming a freeway.
“We want to be in Warsaw, Indiana, for the next 800 years ... but we can not make the commitment to be here long term if we don’t resolve this. One of every three employees in our company needs that road (to get to) work,” Tornos said, in part.
Graham talked about how Steel Dynamics is not likely to grow here unless U.S. 30 is addressed.
“We have an opinion - and I think it should be weighed heavily - from a company that wants to grow here, but to be honest, is not likely to grow here unless these things are addressed,” he said.
Steel Dynamics recently committed almost a $3 billion facility in Columbus, Miss., for an aluminum plant.
“We did not consider this area. You didn’t know about it. Three billion dollars. We look at infrastructure. We look at transportation. We look at power, we look at things, and so you won’t hear about the thing. We look at the 70 miles between Warsaw and Valparaiso and we look at that and go, ‘You put a freeway in there and you do it right, that will be full for our kids. This corridor will be used more,’” Graham said.
He said they travel from Pittsburgh and Cleveland to Chicago through this corridor and safety is “hugely important” but not the only issue.
“So if safety is your reason to do it, we’ve got to do something or it’s only going to get worse. If environmental or emissions is something that you care about - 14,000 hours of wasted emissions on vehicles every day - you want to save something, start there,” Graham said. “Growth. Companies like ourselves, companies in orthopedic industries. Companies have to have the minimum things, and we need to be able to attract them.”
Graham reiterated that Steel Dynamics isn’t going to be able to invest much more here “until we get some things right. It just continues to slow down. Short of the freeway, just beware that you might get a little bit of the safety, or you might get all the safety. But you can have your cake and eat it, too, and we would love to see the investment made and Steel Dynamics stands by to support it in any way we can.”
After the U.S. 30 Summit, U.S. 30 Coalition Executive Director and former Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said he was not surprised by the businessmen’s comments.
“We’ve felt all along that the inefficiency of U.S. 30 - the unreliability is probably a better word - that it’s difficult for logistics to bring goods and services to folks and to bring workforce into the community,” Thallemer said.
“I’m not surprised at all (by their comments). I’ve talked to site selectors before that have said, basically, our logistics people, they want to get out on the freeway and they want to go 80 miles an hour. That’s how they get goods delivered, not stopping nine times in Warsaw and five times in Columbia City. It’s just not a reliable artery and if someone wants to get out on the highway, look up along the toll road and along 31 up in South Bend, there’s multi-million-dollar businesses coming in because they know the transportation is reliable. Here, it’s not so certain,” Thallemer said.
Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker said for him U.S. 30 is high priority in terms of economic development and just as high for safety.
“The citizens are so important in our community here. You’re taking your lives in your own hands every time you’re on 30 or cross it,” he said. “And everybody who teaches their kid in this community to cross 30, you’ve got to wait. You have got to count, look both ways.”
If U.S. 30 is fixed, Parker said it would be safer for every citizen and greater for the businesses here to be able to pull in from a larger geographic area.
By turning U.S. 30 into a freeway, it would reduce the driving time between Warsaw and Fort Wayne to as little as 29 minutes.
“Really, we’re one big community because most people - if you’re in a large city like Chicago or the East Coast, you’re used to driving an hour every day to commute. So when you come out from a bigger city to our community for our great jobs, a 30-minute drive, that’s nothing, one way or the other,” Parker said. “Somebody might want to live in Warsaw and work in Fort Wayne, or vice versa. And with the internet today, people are looking for quality of life, quality of place and there’s no place better than Warsaw, Indiana, Kosciusko County.”
A final report from INDOT on the U.S. 30 study is expected by the end of this year or early next year.
Thallemer said it’s going to look at certain segments of the road and talk about improvements that would help meet the concerns that the Summit looked at Wednesday.
“It’s basically several alternatives, but I think it will set in motion the need for the second tier of the environmental study, which has got to be the next phase. You have to have a federal component to the study, so with the final report if there’s enough detail and enough consensus that this needs to happen, and if there’s support from the administration down in Indianapolis, then moving to the environmental impact study - the federal portion of it - will certainly take us where we need to go,” Thallemer said.
Information on the ProPEL30 study released to date can be found online at propelus30.com/.