New U.S. 231 routes criticized

Residents turn out to support 'no-build' option

By Joe Thomas, Journal and Courier

Wake Robin and Sherwood Forest residents would rather see U.S. 231 stay on West Lafayette's Northwestern Avenue than move to their western subdivisions.

On Thursday, nearly three dozen citizens spoke against all four routes left in an environmental study that will help determine the route 231 takes from Indiana 26 to U.S. 52.

Engineers from Michael Baker Jr. Inc. continue an environmental study that began with 10 routes. After the Baker team ruled out four far-west alternates, the center-most route and the eastern-most suggestion, they settled on four finalists. And those four lay between McCormick Road and the Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern Railroad.

The engineers also continue to keep a "no-build" recommendation -- keeping U.S. 231 on Northwestern Avenue -- on the table and that proved a popular option Thursday night.

"It seems to me to be more logical and more respectful of those of us who built our homes to take this farther west and let those people in the future decide if they want to build their homes close to a busy road," said Nancy Klinger, who lives in Sherwood Forest.

"Why do we need this road?" asked Richard Abrahamson, a Wake Robin resident. "It introduces commercial traffic into an area that does not have commercial traffic.

"I heard the city council wants to keep it close to the city, but all that will do is push everybody farther west," he said.

Several in the audience during the second public hearing on the bypass plans this year complained the new road really will help only fans attending Purdue University football and basketball games.

Chen Lee, a Wake Robin resident, said the increased traffic will conflict with both young and old people since he lives mostly near either young families or retirees.

"The whole neighborhood is well developed. Therefore, you are driving a road through here that should have been done 15 years ago when no one was here," Lee said.

Terry Stewart said he has a problem with not building a new road, especially since state highway designers continue drawing U.S. 231 from South River Road around the Purdue University Airport and onto Airport Road. Stewart wants to know where that traffic will go once it reaches State Street at Purdue West.

"The traffic is going to be dumped there and it's got to go somewhere," he said. "The only options are to turn, come through campus and wander through town or turn on 26 and go out Klondike Road. So, I don't support the no-build option. We've got a problem and we've got to solve it."

That made Dick Nelson think. He plans to move into University Place on Lindberg Road when the retirement community opens.

"I felt no-build was the obvious option," Nelson said.

And then he listened to Stewart and figured doing nothing creates more problems than doing something.

"They're not going to use Northwestern, so they'll go up McCormick Road to 52 or go west and out 26 to Klondike Road to get to 52. It's not going to take care of the traffic problem that people think it will take care of. It will just make a bigger traffic problem on McCormick Road than we have now," Nelson said.

Jacqueline Smith asked only that engineers minimize the damage and impact a new highway would bring to her neighborhood.

"I know it will be built, so I ask you to look at the options and figure out which one has the least impact on the majority of people and go with that one," she said.

What's next?

Staff members at Michael Baker Jr. Inc. will review comments from Thursday night's public hearing and fit them in with their route analysis before presenting the study so far to Indiana Department of Transportation officials.

INDOT staff members will make a final decision on which routes to eliminate.

Although they have not yet set dates, Baker staff members plan to hold two more meetings with community leaders and another public hearing before wrapping up their study by late summer.