Dubois County - Coalition for Appropriate Roads (DCCAR)

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WHAT ARE THE NEEDS FOR BUILDING THE POTNETIAL U.S. 231 BYPASS THROUGH DUBOIS COUNTY, INDIANA? THE STATE HAS INDICATED THE FOLLOWING NEEDS FOR THE U.S. 231 BYPASS:

Daily traffic on the highway south of Huntingburg amounted to about 7,400 vehicles (970 trucks per day). Daily traffic on the highway in Jasper is about 20,300 vehicles (1,600) trucks per day. Traffic is expected to increase 64% by the design year 2030. At the design year, all but .5 mile of the project is expected to be above the recommended threshold for a two or three lane roadway in urban and rural areas, and 8.2 miles is expected to exceed the threshold by more than two to three times.

Here are questions we asked the State of Indiana, but have not received answers to:

Where is transportation not efficient in Huntingburg?

What are the "related injuries" in Huntingburg?

How much reduction in congestion and travel time does the State expect to achieve in Huntingburg?

Does reducing traffic accidents to below statewide levels on U.S. 231 warrent a "need" to build a bypass?

What is an acceptable level of traffic accidents in Huntingburg? Is the statewide average the "magical" number?

Does the State expect to reduce Huntingburg traffic accidents in Huntingburg by building a new bypass? Or, will the same number of traffic accidents occur, but simply moving some of those accidents to a new bypass?

What does definition of "substandard" mean for Huntingburg?

Why is roadway south of Huntingburg being measured and not "in" Huntingburg being measured, like "in" Jasper?

What measurement methodology was used to account for trucks?

What was the time period in which the traffic measurements were taken in Huntingburg vs Jasper?

Where were the traffic measurements recorded in Huntingburg?

How often were the measurements recorded in Huntingburg?

Of the expected increase in traffic, what is the expected increase for the highway south of Huntingburg vs Jasper?

The overall crash rate for the stretch of highway in question from 1996 to 1998 was 331.7 crashes per 100 million vehicle miles. The state average was 290 crashes per 100 million vehicle miles. Approximately 79 percent of all crashes in the project corridor during the three-year period occurred in Jasper and Huntingburg. One rural section of the U.S. 231, the segment north of Jasper, exceeded the statewide average. Jasper's injury rate exceeded the statewide average by 1.5 times, while Huntingburg's injury rate is near the statewide average. In urban areas, the large number of access points and intersections resulting in stop-and-go vehicle maneuvers, in combination with the high traffic volumes, contribute to the crash potential. Huntingburg has approximately 112 residential/commercial access points, while Jasper has over 200 entrances onto the existing roadway.

What were the crashes per 100 million vehicles miles betwen 1990 through 1995 and 1999 through 2001?

What is the high, medium and low average crash rate ranges for the state and comparable stretches of highways?

Where did these traffic accidents and related injuries occur along the existing U.S. 231 highway?

What type of traffic accidents and related injuries occurred?

Does the public have access to these traffic accidents and related injury statistics? If so, where can the public access this information?

What does the State mean by, "Huntingburg's injury rate is near the statewide average"? What is Huntingburg's average?

The 1996 U.S. 231 Corridor Study recommended "Alternative #1" because:

No alternative stands out over the others as the obvious best alignment for the bypass when considering all factors together. The estimated construction and right ow way cost for Stage One (construction of two lanes) of this type of bypass facility would cost the taxpayers $75 million; approximately half the cost of the full improvement bypass of $150 million. Traffic projections completed by First Group showed future volumes ranging from 6,600 to 13,600 vehicles per day for Alternative #1. It was determined that this type of facility would have th ability to accommodate "significantly" more traffic than was to be expected for the design period. Highway volumes projected over the next twenty years do not indicate a necessity to construct the ultimate facility in the immediate future. In summary, the year 2025 traffic projections can be adequately accommodated with the Stage One improvements described above.

What defines a "major traffic generator"?

How much traffic are the major traffic generators in Huntingburg generating? Does this amount of traffic require a new bypass?

The majority of Huntingburg's major traffic generators are located on the northwest side of Huntingburg. Building a bypass west of Huntingburg, would most likely run along side of these traffic generators. Will people employed by these traffic generators really use/benefit from a bypass? Will the majority of these people really have a direct route to their employment?

What about rural displacements, length traveled through farms and proximity to farming operations and natural resources? Why are these factors not accounted for in the State's study?

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