Over the past few years I have written numerous columns, but none is as important as this one: the state of Indiana plans to shut down New Palestine.
How? In mid-summer 2019, approximately 15 months from now, the state will close U.S 52 at County Road 600W (Mt. Comfort Road).
Simultaneously, the state will also work on the intersection of U.S 52 at County Road 500W (Gem Road). We will explore more on that later.
You may ask, what does that have to do with me as a resident of New Palestine? Plenty.
First, the state’s reasoning: the state wants to close U.S. 52 at County Road 600W to replace a bridge. State officials say it must close for three and a half to eight months.
My questions are: 1) What bridge? There is no bridge at that intersection, just a culvert placed there recently. 2) State of Indiana, are you out of your mind?
Has Indiana Department of Transportation given any consideration to the consequences? I have.
I first heard about this situation from George. George and Marge own our local McDonald’s. Next I discussed it with Tim and Cindy Crooks, owners of the Frosty Boy Drive-In.
I next talked to Dave Book, New Palestine town manager. I also talked to Gary Pool, our Hancock County engineer.
(Gary is one of the best things to happen to Hancock County in many years. Gary and his family reside in New Palestine. His wife also has a business on U.S. 52.)
I have discussed this situation with other business owners.
The plan is to detour traffic around New Palestine. I talked to Skip Kuker, executive director of Hancock County Economic Development Council. He confirmed that if a state highway is closed, the state is not allowed to detour traffic onto our county roads.
Detour signs will be placed at State Road 9 and U.S. 52. They will also be placed at U.S. 52 and State Road 100 (Shadeland Avenue). This means if you are not familiar with our county road system, you will totally bypass our town. Translation: our merchants will lose important revenue.
Book said New Palestine will put up detour signs on U.S. 52. My guess is they’ll be at County Road 700W and also around County Road 500W.
As I stated to him, this is unacceptable. Travelers navigating the detour will be taken too far south or north to even think about coming to our town to spend their money, to the economic hardship of folks like Tim and George.
Allow me to cite a few personal examples. My friend Phil invested in a hardware store near the corner of Post Road and 10th Street in Indianapolis. It was an up-and-coming, thriving small business. The hardware store brought in folks to the small strip center it was located in.
The city of Indianapolis decided to close the road for about a year. Phil had to close because of the economic hardship the road closing imposed on his business.
Do we want to see our hard-working small business owners go bankrupt? I, for one, do not.
This would place hardship on a new business coming to our town. What about the Ricker’s gas station? What about public safety? What about the rerouting of our school buses? There simply is a better way.
I propose several ideas to keep this from happening, and they do have precedence.
The state could construct a temporary bypass around this intersection behind the existing businesses on the north or south side of the intersection.
The state could close it one lane at a time. I realize that is not the most efficient way to do it, but it is a solution.
When the county decided to build the roundabout at Mt. Comfort Road and County Road 300 North, traffic was really messed up. Buck Creek Township Trustee Melvin Branson, who goes to the United Methodist Church next to that intersection, came up with an “out of the box” solution.
Branson suggested, and Hancock County agreed to, building a road that would bypass the intersection. It worked.
The second situation was when Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell inherited a major sewer project. He also thought “outside the box.” He knocked on every door in Greenfield that was impacted by the project. One woman explained that closing the road in front of her house would severely impact her need for life-saving oxygen to reach her home. Fewell had a special road paved to her house.
Folks, I have written many times about bureaucracy in all levels of our government. These two examples point out how a civic-minded elected official went about solving a problem.
Contact Hancock County Commissioners John Jessup, Brad Armstrong and Marc Huber and county highway engineer Pool.
Contact state Reps. Bob Cherry and Sean Eberhart, House Speaker Brian Bosma and state Sen. Michael Crider. I have talked to the these outstanding public servants. They will listen to your concerns if you put forth the effort.
I further propose rallies this summer to draw this to the attention of the State of Indiana Highway Department. So many times our elected officials get undue criticism. Folks, it is your civic duty to draw this to their attention. Please don’t let the state highway department close the town of New Palestine.
C.O. Montgomery of New Palestine is a former teacher, Sugar Creek Township trustee and co-director of the Hancock County Character Council. Send comments to dr-editorial@greenfield reporter.com.
