Strong Opposition Voiced Against Southern US 30 Bypass
WARSAW — The first chance for the public to see roughed out options for a future, limited-access US 30 drew hundreds of people to the Lincoln Elementary gym Wednesday night, Sept. 18.
Nearly a year since the first public meeting was held that introduced the idea of revamping US 30, representatives of the city of Warsaw and Kosciusko County unveiled a map that proposed northern and southern options.
The northern route around the northeast part of the city would reconnect with US 30 at the SR 15 interchange.
The southern option appeared to be almost twice as long as the northern route and would loop around the southern portion of the city, creating a significant bypass.
A third option would be to reconstruct US 30 along its current path with very limited access points.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, who serves as the chairman of the seven-county coalition that is seeking to upgrade the highway from Fort Wayne to Valparaiso, suggested early on that all three options would anger many people for various reasons.
But the strongest opinions, based on reaction from the crowd, seemed to be over the southern route.
That was punctuated by two of the bigger voices who have interests in the southern half of Kosciusko County — County Commissioner Bob Conley and farmer and businessman Don Zolman.
Conley said his phone has been ringing off the hook with callers upset over the idea.
He pointed out that a southern route would impact a majority of people in the southern district.
“We don’t want that in the southern part of the county,” Conley said.
Zolman said the southern route would affect six of his farms. He and others voiced concern about losing farmland, having their farms potentially divided and environmental and economic effects.
Another man added, “The southern route makes no sense … a through route really keeps Warsaw a thriving community.”
Thallemer began the meeting by making a few things clear: That nothing has been decided; the wide colored lines representing the two bypass options on the map mean nothing and represent only a starting point, and that local input will be critical when the state works to choose the option.
He also said no specific property is being targeted for acquisition.
Thallemer also provided updated US 30 accident statistics that drive home arguments that a change is needed for the sake of public safety.
Several US 30 intersections have seen spikes in the number of accidents.
The Parker Street intersection averages 26 crashes a year and has seen a 57 percent jump in accidents since January of 2017, according to information from Michiana Area Council of Governments.
The nearby Anchorage Road intersection averages 16 crashes a year and has seen a 62 percent jump since 2017, the report said.
Another statistic that underscores the highway’s congestion — 35 percent of the wrecks are blamed on drivers following too closely.
Thallemer and others cautioned that the plan would be years away if it wins approval by the state. Construction may not even begin for ten years and could continue for many more years.
Thallemer and others said there would be more public meetings in the future before local leaders make their preference known to state transportation officials.
Thallemer expressed satisfaction with the size of the audience, which filled much of the bleachers in the gym. A school official said the capacity of the bleachers is about 900.