State Road (SR) 145 The Casino Highway - New Highways Destroy Rural Areas

A major reason we oppose new terrain highways is that they destroy forests and rural communities.  The new terrain SR 145 now being constructed in southern Indiana is a wide swath of mounded earth beginning at I-64 at the St Croix / Tell City exit. It heads north through the heart of the Hoosier National Forest purchase area where it connects up with SR 145 about a mile south of SR 64. Giant earthmovers work from sunup to sundown, shaving off hillsides to provide fill for the elevated portion of this monstrous highway to nowhere. It will ultimately be a wall cutting one side of the county off from the other. People are often astounded to see how much devastation new highways create, and this one is especially ugly.

    

This highway is being built even though the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process was flawed and no acceptable need was identified. One of the stated needs in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was to bring more large RV’s to Patoka Lake, even though there was no evidence that this was needed. Other needs were the usual flimsy ones—safety, completion of a section and so forth.  Not mentioned was that this highway literally goes from nowhere to nowhere. Also not mentioned in the studies was the important fact that this road re-routes SR 37 through French Lick and provides access for a planned casino there. So often the real reasons for destructive projects like this are hidden because even the highway planners wouldn’t tolerate the truth. Mitigation measures for the woodlands and wetlands lost were also not sufficiently addressed in the DEIS. How much the drastic change in land contours will affect flooding and drainage is anyone’s guess. It will certainly have negative impacts on those who live nearby.
 
This is one highway we couldn’t stop. The planners sneaked the Record of Decision  (ROD)  past us in an action that had to be illegal. Fighting highways takes money. This highway goes through one of the poorest areas of the state as well as one of the least populated. Opposition was overwhelming, but the money to take this to court was not available in time. We watch millions of taxpayer dollars build this unnecessary pork barrel project and we weep. And let this be a warning: Don’t ever allow a highway like this come to your community.

ARCHIVE: Reasons to Oppose the Casino Road

New State Highway 145

Other Issues

photo by John Maier	Patoka Headwaters Trail Damaged by Off Road Vehicles
The footpaths in the Little Africa area at the headwaters of the Patoka have been heavily damaged by off road vehicles.Steep hillsides, riverbanks and major sections of the trail are eroding into a sloppy mess that make hiking the trail more of an adventure than it should be. Access to the trail is made possible by simply driving around the gates posted for foot traffic only. This area is also accessed where powerlines cross a county road. A network of illegal off road trails exemplifies the problem with these vehicles. Once access is gained to a particular area, making new trails is part of the fun. On one hillside , when the ruts in the trail got too slick and deep, a new trail beside it was plowed over. The hillside has a bald, muddy trail twenty feet wide.This has been a popular trail leading to a spring that begins a stream that becomes the Patoka river. Though the headwaters of the Patoka run pure and clean today, how long will it be before ORV traffic and irresponsible timbering practices, like those described below, turn this pristine enviroment into another muddy mess?
Logging threatens clean air and water in southern Indiana	photo by John Maier
We in southern Indiana have been blessed to live in the midst of so much forested and undeveloped land. But like everywhere, pressure from developers and road builders is increasing and as private forests are cut and land sold, it is becoming more imperative than ever to protect our publicly owned land. Old growth forests are necessary to clean the air and water and to provide habitat for a large variety of species who cannot survive in logged forests. Game species, such as the ruffed grouse which prefer edge habitat and early succession forest would be relatively unaffected by a ban on logging in state and national forests. Development of rural land for human use is the real threat to such species. If we continue to expand factories and subdivisions into the countryside, and build new roads which will exacerbate such development, we can look forward to a time when all the wild hunting grounds have been made tame, and have been turned into managed parks supporting only a few chosen species. Just as the government should not raise corn and soybeans to compete with farmers, so should the government not compete with landowners and sell trees off public land, usually in below cost sales. Our public forests exist for everyone, and are necessary and useful for much more than a limited number of game animals. Please help keep Southern Indiana rural. Stand tall against rural development and support HB 1342 which would end logging on Indiana's state forests.

Our Stand

Off Road Vehicles

Private Forest Protection

Rural Development

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Transportation Planning