MIDDLEBURY, Ind. — The Middlebury Town Council joined a committee of the Middlebury Chamber of Commerce Monday in urging the Indiana Department of Transportation to consider other options beside expanding portions of Ind. 13 in Middlebury to a four-lane roadway.
The council voted to support a letter drafted by town attorney Craig Buche that lays out the council’s position on traffic congestion problems in Middlebury. That position paper will be forwarded to the highway agency, along with a similar letter of opposition to a four-lane proposal from the Economic Development Committee of the Middlebury Chamber of Commerce.
Buche said afterward that the council letter states the council’s opposition to any thought, no matter how tentative at this point, of expanding Ind. 13 from two to four lanes within the town limits. He added that the Chamber in past years has proposed the construction of an alternate route around Middlebury, either to the east or west of town.
At the Nov. 20 council meeting in which the economic development committee sought the council’s support for its letter of opposition, Chamber officials said they opposed the Michiana Area Council of Government’s proposal to widen portions of Ind. 13.
Council members gave indications that they would join the Chamber’s campaign to oppose the potential project.
Wilbur Bontrager, president of the Economic Development Committee of the Middlebury Chamber of Commerce, told council members then that MACOG officials want to widen Ind. 13 from U.S. 20 to the Michigan state line by the year 2015. He added that INDOT is seeking input from the Middlebury community on the proposal.
However, Town Manager Lowell Miller cautioned after Monday’s meeting that MACOG officials would widen just parts of the highway, primarily because turn lanes would be installed to improve traffic flow. He said the economic development committee is really just urging the community to give its input on the right thing to do.
Bontrager said two weeks ago the Chamber has no formal alternate plan now but is concerned about “traffic and other issues” with the MACOG plan.
He said the Ind. 13 issue is being addressed because the highway has an “inordinate” amount of truck traffic, in comparison with other types of vehicles.
Miller cautioned Monday the highway upgrade issue is far from being settled, because INDOT must do a formal study of the traffic problem first and is a year-and-a-half away from hiring a traffic study consultant. State officials have proposed not undertaking the project until 2014.
Councilman Dan Shoup stated Nov. 20 that he opposes construction of a four-lane highway through town. Council member Jack Kortie called the MACOG proposal “probably the most important issue facing (our) town.”
On Monday, the council also postponed until Dec. 18 the opening of bids for a proposed upgrade of the Middlebury Hardwoods sewer lift station. The project calls for rebuilding the subtelemetry of the lift station and part of the physical station itself in order to get electrical service up and running more quickly in the event of electrical outages.
Councilman Jon Ottinger announced that Syndicate Systems of Middlebury recently funded a trip by the Heritage Middle School spell bowl team to Indianapolis for state competition. Ottinger had urged Syndicate to contribute to community causes when the council recently granted the company a tax abatement.
The next regular council meeting is slated for 6 p.m. Dec. 18 at Town Hall on North Main Street.
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