Published: April 29, 2008 10:58 pm         

Community forum on 641 bypass project

‘Southern Alternative E3’ gets nod during public comment period of meeting

TERRE HAUTE — State officials met with some frustrated community members Tuesday night as nearly 100 people attended a public hearing on route alternatives for the last phases of an Indiana 641 bypass through Riley.

Complaints heard by INDOT and Beam, Longest and Neff officials included the length of time the project is taking, as well as the identity of the Community Advisory Committee’s members.

But those who spoke during the public comment period agreed that if a move has to be made, the option titled “Southern Alternative E3” is their choice.

“I’m probably the most hostile person against this project,” McDaniel Road resident Rita Drake said in the Maryland Community Church’s open area during the public comment time.

Drake said the section of McDaniel Road near Gross Drive and Fagin Street on which she lives has been closed for more than a year.

“I had a heart attack a year ago and I couldn’t even get out to the hospital,” she said, adding that her husband is a physician and has also had difficulty getting to the hospital to see patients. “There’s still nothing done.”

Rickie Clark, Hearings Manager for the Indiana Department of Transportation, and Chad Costa, Deputy Chief Environmental Analyst from Beam, Longest and Neff, LLC, presented the group with a number of contact phone numbers, e-mail addresses and Web sites to follow along with the project, which is now slated for completion in 2013.

Rep. Vern Tincher (D-Riley) noted that “when they started talking about project 641 the target date was 2005,” he said. “I’ve been looking at this project since the early ’90s.”

Tincher, who spoke during the public comment time, said he has been concerned from the onset about traffic and extra drive time for the area’s residents who commute to Terre Haute.

“But I think it’s real progress that we’re getting away from lines C and CX,” he said of two options presented earlier.

One resident complained that “we’ve been trying to find out who’s on this CAC for four months,” he said in reference to the Community Advisory Committee.

The CAC, which Costa explained prior to the public forum, is a 24-member board comprised of representatives from various local agencies, community groups and government bodies. The agencies represented were listed as part of the meeting’s Power Point presentation, but specific names were not included.

Vigo County Councilman Brad Anderson (R-4) agreed, noting that one of the bodies represented is the council but that he, the representative for the Riley area, has never been contacted or notified.

“I’d like to be on that CAC,” he said during the public comment period.

Clark said after the meeting that individual names and contact information for the CAC have not been published because of privacy concerns of the members. However, he said a list of the members would be provided shortly because of the requests of residents wishing to contact them with their concerns.

Costa said the directors or presidents of each group had been selected as CAC members and that attendance had been about 14 out of 24 to date, “which is good for most CACs.”

The group has met on Nov. 29, April 9, and will meet a third time in June, he said.

Cathy Sturgeon, an area farmer, said “personally, I think the whole project is a waste of money,” noting that “we’re losing farm ground right and left” and “the only congestion we have right now is at lunch time.”

Sturgeon received applause and several standing cheers when she said “Willowbrook deserves attention too,” referring to the South Willowbrook subdivision which could lose several homes to demolition depending on which plan is followed.

Costa said the immediate timeline for the project includes drafting an environmental impact assessment by August and another public hearing sometime this fall.

In February the environmental impact plan should be completed and “right of way activity” should begin with determination made on which properties to purchase.

A completion date is tentatively scheduled for 2013, he said.

Brian Boyce can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.