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Dear Editor:
I sympathize with Mr. Merrell of IDI and his concerns regarding the proposed route for the State Road 32 bypass. Pleasant Street is not the best alternative but the city insists on pursuing it, as it has for 20 years, ignoring the protests of those who would be most affected.
The city’s position seems to be motivated by misplaced priorities, putting the movement of traffic ahead of local stakeholders, when it should be the other way around. How can these road improvements best serve local residents? Certainly not by bulldozing their homes, businesses and parking lots.
We’ve seen a lot of destruction in the name of “road improvements” over the past 100 years. Historically, highway projects nationwide seldom worried about their effect on local communities, as smooth traffic flow nearly always took priority, regardless of what was in the way.
But we’re smarter now. Enlightened cities and traffic engineers are recognizing their errors and working to correct them. Some roads are being dismantled and communities rebuilt. But Noblesville continues to pursue an idea born some 20 years ago that is very little changed from the original concept that plows right through town instead of going around it.
Fortunately, Noblesville’s desire to tap federal and state funds is forcing it to confront realities it would just as soon ignore. The Feds recognize the devastation that a new road thoroughfare can cause and requires community leaders to engage with local stakeholders if they want federal funds.
I attended several of the public meetings. At one, an invited participant asked if the city knew where the traffic was coming from that necessitates this bypass, and where it was going. It’s a great question. The reply was that the data is available but was far too complex to present in that meeting.
I pressed that point at a later meeting and was told that a consultant had collected that data through cell phone records, but that the city hadn’t wanted to spend the money to have it analyzed. I think that would be money well-spent because I suspect that just a portion of the east-west traffic on SR 32 is headed directly through town, with much of it traveling to and from major population centers south of Noblesville. If that’s the case, why not pursue a southern route bypass, which would give those drivers a more direct route instead of forcing them to drive into town? It might add an extra minute or two for those who actually are heading east or west, but it would also open areas that are currently inaccessible to development.
The most important benefit: We would lose no businesses and no homes.
Mr. Merrell notes a significant issue that has plagued Noblesville planning for at least a generation. Important decisions on large projects seem to be made BEFORE the public is engaged. Plans are presented as done deals with public input an insignificant afterthought.
Consider the loss of the train, the Levinson building, and proposed condos in Seminary Park. The public weighed in but was ignored. Fortunately, the condos idea was scrapped early after a whistleblower went public, but it’s not hard to imagine that ill-advised project moving forward had concerned citizens not gotten wind of it.
The bypass was moving along that way until the city was forced to get public input due to these funding requirements. Had the public been involved earlier, perhaps collective wisdom and some inspired leadership would have led to a better solution early on. Instead we’re still tweaking a tired, 20-year-old idea that was flawed from the beginning.
I encourage the city to listen to Mr. Merrell and the others who have patiently and repeatedly pointed out the errors in this plan, and respond with a better idea that respects our residents, our businesses and our built environment.
Mike Corbett
Noblesville