By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
COLUMBIA CITY — In its biggest announcement to date concerning US 30, the Indiana Department of Transportation expressed full support on Wednesday for the construction of an interchange and overpass near Steel Dynamics in Whitley County.
Officials also said those two projects and improvements at two other nearby intersections will transform several miles of US 30 into a limited-access highway that many officials want to see happen all the way to Valparaiso.
The announcement was made by Gov. Eric Holcomb at the SDI headquarters overlooking the highway and comes months after executives from the Columbia City firm and Zimmer Biomet in Warsaw publicly implored state leadership to move more quickly in improving safety conditions along the corridor.
INDOT Commissioner Mike Smith and Holcomb confirmed Steel Dynamics has agreed to help finance the two new projects.
“I think SDI fully understands they have a huge investment here in this geography and so they’re willing partner to help us get there on project costs,” Smith said.
“We couldn’t be more appreciative,” Holcomb added.
Steel Dynamics President and COO Barry Schneider told News Now Warsaw they’re committed to providing an unspecified amount of money toward the projects.
“We believe in putting skin in the game,” Schneider said. “Right from the beginning, everybody’s been clear that when we have “asks,” we want to make sure the community appreciates what’s happening and that everybody is involved — financially supporting projects like this is important.”
The newest effort involves the construction of an interchange at CR 600E and an overpass at CR 700E. Already in the loop are plans for interchanges at Kroemer and Flaugh Roads and at Butt Road in Allen County, further to the east.
The combination of those improvements, Smith said, will create a limited access highway from CR 600E to I-69.
Holcomb attributed Indiana’s ranking as the No. 1 advanced manufacturing state in America (per capita) to what’s happening in northeast Indiana.
He said an estimated 745 million tons of freight pass through Indiana roads each year.
He commended state lawmakers for the pro-growth tax environment, and the continuity of that leadership has brought forward to cultivate an economy “that is so attractive and really creates this flywheel effect where progress attracts progress.”
Former Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, who serves as the president of Indiana’s US 30 Coalition, was part of a large delegation representing Warsaw, Kosciusko County and Winona Lake that attended the gathering
Thallemer also spoke and pointed out that the original construction of US 30 some 52 years ago helped propel development in many of the communities but that congestion over the past 20 years has become problematic.
“An unsafe roadway degrades the reliability of travel — a point that business industry and industry business partners consistently remind us of,” he said.
“Projects of this magnitude are complex, expensive, controversial and require patience, but bold leadership advances vision to create momentum for change,” Thallemer said in thanking Holcomb for “navigating those complexities.”
Also among those attending was Warsaw City Council President Jack Wilhite who said he thinks the large group from Kosciusko County at the meeting wants to see similar progress in their jurisdiction.
Intersections in Kosciusko County have some of the large number of serious traffic accident among all counties across the entire stretch of US 30.
“We’re just showing our support for making sure something gets done,” Wilhite said.
Wilhite said he thinks the announcement serves as an exclamation mark for Holbomb’s support of the US 30 coalition as he prepares to step down as governor at the end of December.
