Officials Talk Mid-State Corridor at Dubois Strong Annual Meeting in Jasper

JASPER -- A Midstate corridor connecting US 231 in Dubois County to I69 is moving forward and it was a big topic of interest yesterday at the Dubois Strong annual meeting at Klub Haus 61.

The Dubois County commissioners, this week, approved a 5 member Regional Development Authority or RDA to get the project off the ground.

They and others will meet with Indiana governor Eric Holcomb and INDOT commissioner Joe McGuinness next month to update them on the progress of the plans and to present the RDA and feasibility study agreement in the hopes of moving the plan forward.

The proposal calls for a 4-lane, limited access highway.  

Supporters of the plan say it will help ease congestion on US 231 and attract businesses to the area that want to build locations near an interstate or a highway connecting to an interstate.

"$4.5 billion and 10,000 new jobs over 20 years," explains Ed Cole from Dubois Strong, speaking about the Mid-state Corridor Thursday.  "Senate Bill 128 gave us the ability to jump start that project.  The RDA [Regional Development Authority] formation is underway.  Both Dubois and Spencer County commissioners voted to approve the 5 member Mid-state Corridor Regional RDA." 

 Cole also discussed the group’s accomplishments from last year, and laid out its priorities for THIS year including creating “quality of place” and building a strong local workforce through job training programs, education, tours of opportunity and affordable housing.

The group, as we told you earlier this week, will be launching a new social media campaign next month aimed at attracting workers to Dubois County to live, work and play.