By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

LA PORTE, Ind. — Farmers are bristling over plans for a new four-lane highway that would connect with the Indiana Toll Road so trucks don’t have to drive through La Porte’s downtown.

The eight-mile roadway would require farmland – quite possibly some of the acres Harold Parker uses to supply tomatoes under a contract to central Indiana-based Red Gold, the makers of ketchup, diced tomatoes and other products. There are four routes being studied, including one that cuts across his farm along Indiana Route 4 just east of the city limits.

Parker, president of the local branch of Indiana Farm Bureau, said he’s not opposed to it, necessarily, as long as the outcome is fair to all parties involved. “We’re not against public development. We just want the best for the money that’s going to be spent and not hurt too much to where we can’t make a living,” he said.

Judy Pearce doesn’t rely on farming to make a living, with just six acres of ground in production at 50 West and 350 North just outside the city limits. Her concerns are more about damaging a lifestyle she believes is being overlooked just for the betterment of the city.

 Her property is a few miles between two of the proposed routes. “A lot of this I probably won’t live to see, but I have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. I want them to be able to experience the good country life that I was able to,” she said.

The project costing roughly $130 million was outlined Jan. 30 before close to 100 people at the La Porte Civic Auditorium. Whether the highway discussed for a half-century will actually get built could be known by February 2019, when an ongoing feasibility study is expected to be completed.

Supporters like Mike Seitz, director of economic development for LaPorte County government, hope so. “It’s a long time coming,” he said.

Seitz, former president of the Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce, said trucks getting in and out of downtown quicker could help bring more industrial development and consumers to the central business district by making the area more pedestrian-friendly. “People can find places to park without worrying about their mirrors getting torn off by trucks,” he suggested.

Supporters point to Valparaiso, and its vibrant user-friendly downtown after Indiana 49 was constructed years ago just east of the city, for what could happen here.

Lochmueller Group, Inc., with offices in Indianapolis and South Bend, has identified four possible routes all starting at or near Boyd Boulevard beside U.S. Highway 35 on La Porte’s south side. The road would loop around the downtown to the east, then north of Indiana 2 at Range Road, veer west until reaching the Toll Road at Indiana 39.

Leigh Morris, a former mayor of La Porte, said lack of such a road is a factor in the longstanding struggles to bring major industrial-type development at Kingsbury Industrial Park just five miles south of the city. A high percentage of the heavy volume of trucks generated there would have to go through the downtown already congested with trucks, said Morris, who’s been involved in efforts to fully develop the industrial park.

“The transportation access is not good. It’s difficult to get to the interstate highway systems, and that’s really important to many of the major employers,” Morris said.

Morris said the new road would also provide areas for new development to go up along the route.

The study, ordered by LaPorte County government, is being paid for with federal funds. Financing actual construction has not been secured yet but 80 percent of the cost for construction like this usually is paid for with federal dollars, said David Goffinet of the Lochmueller Group.

Parker said other concerns include farmers being fairly compensated for land that would be acquired to construct the road through eminent domain, and taking fertile ground out of production for a growing population.

“Don’t forget. Farm ground is an asset, too. We’re not going to get that back, and someday we’re going to have to have that to feed people,” Parker pointed out.

He’s also worried about losing his irrigation system in the path of one of the proposed routes. “Irrigation guarantees me a crop. It’s an insurance policy.”