Photos taken by me, Braydyn Lents

LOOGOOTEE, Ind. — Local and state officials, along with residents, gathered Wednesday night at St. John’s the Evangelist Catholic Church Center to discuss the status and future of the controversial Mid-States Corridor highway project. The infrastructure proposal has faced mounting opposition and political setbacks in recent years.

Speakers included Jason McCoy, Brad Hochgesang, and Mark Nowotarski, who have led efforts to halt the Mid-States Corridor project. The event provided a forum for residents, local leaders, and state politicians to voice concerns and discuss the highway’s impact on the region.

After announcing the Pledge of Allegiance and giving some brief introductions, McCoy began by speaking first about how the Corridor is affecting him and those he loves. Through this hardship, he says he was at first “willing to give up ground” if the state of Indiana was going to use this project for something good or beneficial to both the community and to the state of Indiana.

McCoy’s words had to be scripted due to his harsh opposing views on how the Corridor has been affecting him and his overall livelihood. Still, at points throughout the conference, McCoy blasted against the very politicians, leaders, and corporate executives that have been making life difficult for the very people the Corridor is trying to take out.

Speakers highlighted concerns about property rights, land acquisition, and the influence of the Regional Development Authority on the project’s direction. Many argued that the process has excluded public input and favored private interests.

The Mid-States Corridor, once considered a “done deal,” has seen significant resistance following a December poll that showed 81% of Dubois County voters opposed the highway. Statewide polling later found 74% of Indiana voters were against the project.

“Polls don’t kill roads. Conversations kill roads, and that’s what’s killed this road,” said McCoy, emphasizing grassroots opposition. “Every time one person explains the project to three neighbors, the opposition grows.”

Elected officials and candidates, including State Senate candidates Jeff Ellington and Kristi Risk, Martin County Council member Jim Woody, Loogootee Mayor Brian Ader, and State Representative candidate Tiffany Arthur, voiced strong reservations about the project’s impact on communities, farmland, and local economies. Some called for redirecting funds to existing roads and bridges, while others criticized the development authority for sidelining public input.

“I grew up in a small town outside Plainville, Indiana, and I’ve seen what happens when interstates bypass small towns,” Arthur said. “We went from a small town to a drive-through town. There’s not a restaurant, the gas station struggles, homes are left. We don’t want to see that happen here.”

Loogootee Mayor Brian Ader reiterated his longstanding opposition to the highway and shared efforts by local officials to seek improvements to current infrastructure instead of building the new roadway.

Ader also said the Regional Development Authority had excluded him and the city from key discussions, warning that if the highway is built, “Loogootee could turn into the next Shoals.”

Kristi Risk, State Senate candidate, promised to advocate for constituents and said she is committed to learning about the project’s details and representing local concerns at the Statehouse.

As the meeting progressed, Brad Hochgesang gave three simple pointers on how the state should go about reducing the project’s efficiency, stating how the project would end. Houchesang said the RDA [Regional Development Authority] should be dissolved, legislators can cancel the project, or the roads become too much of a spending burden on the state, so that the project would be too much for Indiana to fund. That would be a dream scenario to happen, as many residents voiced their concerns later in the meeting.

Mike Nowotarski and Brad Hochesang outlined how the project is currently working with Tier 2 studies targeting residents in Dale, Ind., through Haysville, Tier 3 Loogootee past Crane, and Tier 4 is for the alternate routes, the roads that could carve a path through Indiana’s most rural lands, including here at our neck of the woods near Daviess County, past county road 150 North.

The highway board commissioned to allow the Corridor to have no ramps, making it harder for residents to turn on a J-Turn, as Hochesang said, “there are so many dangers” that compound the project’s effectiveness, especially if a large number of high-level traffic patterns occur.  

McCoy would call the alternate routers a shame, encouraging the state to build the highway even more. “Legally, the other routes cannot happen,” McCoy said. “One route was legal to go through Loogootee, but the passing lanes are a total fallacy.”

Additionally, McCoy pointed out several target leaders for making the situation worse including Indiana Governor Mike Braun, billionaires, and German American Bank executives who own a large sharehold of the Mid-States Corridor project, redacting files to hide what the public wants to see, and making things worse for the taxpayers who own land in places such as Loogootee.

“It’s about GAB and billionaires” McCoy said as he pointed out billionaires have gotten $74-80 million for private funds to fund the project.

Nowotarski pointed out three major companies especially in Illinois and Owensboro, KY supported the project, but one business owner who woke up to the idea of the highway and told McCoy after much conversation he said he could not support the project and backed out of the project after hearing more about it.

The public when they got a turn to speak were scared, many elderly, and parents with children expressed concerns over the project with one elderly man rising up to the crowd and saying how he can’t believe this project is being built, and he goes to sleep dreaming the project can just be done, even by tomorrow if it could.  

The Indiana Department of Transportation has not announced new construction schedules or right-of-way offers. The project is delayed by at least 12 months due to procedural requirements. Advocates continue to support the highway, citing economic growth and regional connectivity.

Opponents say they will continue to pressure lawmakers and the development authority to keep the project on hold. “Your job is to get engaged and make sure that it stays stopped,” one organizer said. “Without people engaged, it doesn’t happen.”

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