By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Two officials connected to the US 30 project said Wednesday that after final recommendations on how intersections are pared down along the future limited-access highway, the next decisions will come down to money.
The Propel US 30 team hosted a public meeting Wednesday night at Lincoln Elementary in which people had a chance to see an up-close look at more than a dozen segments along the highway that included clusters of existing intersections.
Drawings and flyover videos of the many of the segments highlighted at the meeting are also available at propelus30.com.
Pubic opinion will be accepted on the intersections until Dec. 13.
A final design will be released early next year.
After that, Propel will send the recommendations to INDOT for consideration.
Propel Study Manager Rusty Holt said the state could potentially pick some of the most problematic intersections as it works to prioritize construction plans. That would work in the favor of Warsaw and Kosciusko County where some of the most deadly intersections across the entire stretch of US 30 are found.
Holt said money will be an issue once the Indiana Department of Transportation identifies certain projects.
“It may be that the highest need is Warsaw and so they need to address some issues inside of Warsaw and connect the dots later,” Holt said.
INDOT has already given initial priority to a series of intersections west of Fort Wayne and east of Columbia City including two intersections near Steel Dynamics, which publically called on the state to take action earlier this year.
Steel Dynamics has also confirmed their willingness to commit an undisclosed amount of money to support the reconstruction of two intersections that will have a combined cost of upward of $70 million.
Holt was asked if that westward pattern of construction could continue into Kosciusko County.
“If it’s one intersection or two intersections that are causing a lot of issues, maybe they would just look to fix those first,” he said.
Former Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said funding will become a main issue if the projects move forward, but adds that many lawmakers across northeast Indiana are strong supporters of revamping US 30.
