HHIC 2009 Annual Meeting Luncheon

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Becky S. Skillman
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
Friday, November 6, 2009
Honeywell Center
275 W. Market St., Wabash, IN
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Click here for more details and to view the invitation.

For the last 26 years, at breakfast tables and Rotary and chamber luncheons throughout the Wabash Valley, the one question inevitably asked was: Will the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor ever be built?  The question being asked today is: When will the entire corridor be open for traffic?

  Construction on the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor is continuing at a record pace in Tippecanoe County and Allen County in Indiana, and in Ohio.  The highway — the dream of two local businessmen (Jack Porter and Glenn Tanner, both deceased) from Wabash, Ind. — is now under construction throughout the entire length of FHWA Corridor 4 (Heartland Highway), which runs from Lafayette, Ind., to Toledo, Ohio.

At the end of October, the states of Indiana and Ohio will be conducting a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open up a substantial section of the eastern section of the corridor. Construction on the western section of the corridor is well underway.

On Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky S. Skillman will be joining local elected, civic and business leaders at the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor Inc.’s 27^th Annual Meeting.  This year’s meeting will be at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, Ind. The luncheon meeting will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  In addition to the lieutenant governor, James Earl II, project engineer for the Indiana Department of Transportation, will provide a construction update on the Lafayette-to-Logansport section of the corridor.

“The City of Wabash is looking forward to the lieutenant governor’s visit and, more importantly, to the completion of the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor,” said Wabash Mayor Robert Vanlandingham.  “We take pride in the fact that our community kept the light burning on the importance of finishing this highway project.  Our community knows firsthand how important completing the highway will be and is looking forward to Lt. Gov. Skillman’s remarks.”

According to Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski, “The Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor will connect the City of Lafayette to the regional and national economies of the upper Great Lakes.  The establishment of a limited-access, four-lane highway linking the cities in the Wabash Valley with the rural communities they serve is essential to the region’s future long-term economic growth.  Several years ago, a few doubters said they did not believe the highway would ever be built, but today all one has to do is drive out from Lafayette toward Logansport to see all the construction that is underway.”

Logansport Mayor Mike Fincher agreed. “Building this vital highway corridor from Toledo, Ohio, to Lafayette, Ind., helps regional and local businesses and industries create jobs, in addition to providing a safe highway to travel on.  It is my hope that we can finish the highway sooner than later and we should not rest until the project is completed.” 

Fincher further indicated, “For me, this isn’t about just building a highway, it’s about establishing the necessary infrastructure to allow the next generation of my community to find jobs and stay in Logansport.”

The Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor will be one of the first FHWA High Priority National Highway System Corridors to be completed.

Delphi Mayor Randy Strasser indicated, “For Delphi, Ind., the future of our community rests on completing the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor.  For the last few years, our community has focused its energies on preparing for the future and not dwelling on the past. The key to our economic development strategy is making sure that the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor is completed on schedule.  This highway will provide a safe and efficient transportation platform for not only goods and services, but for regional traffic attending university events in West Lafayette .  Traveling the Wabash Valley will simply be safer once the highway is completed.”

When asked to provide a quick project summary, Earl said, “INDOT is in the midst of a particularly critical time in the delivery of the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor.  As we speak, many different elements are being tweaked and refined in order to deliver the project as quickly as possible.  Project elements ranging from environmental mitigation, corridor-wide permitting, coordination of construction on multiple contracts, real estate activities, as well as fiscal responsibilities, are just a few of the challenges being met by the INDOT team. The entire INDOT project team has been working together to tackle these challenges in an effort to realize the ultimate goal -- completion by the end of 2013.”

This year’s Hoosier Heartland Highway Industrial Corridor Inc.’s annual meeting is being chaired by Kim Pinkerton, president of the Wabash County Chamber of Commerce. Individuals interested in attending should contact the Wabash Chamber by phone at 260-563-1168 or email at info@wabashchamber.org. Individuals and organizations can also register online by going to the Wabash Chamber’s website at www.wabashchamber.org. The cost for this year’s annual meeting is $30 per person and tables of eight are available for $250.

Francis Jaquay of Miami County is this year’s chairman of the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor Highway Coalition.

 Based on INDOT’s assessment, Jaquay -- over morning coffee -- is now answering the question about whether the highway will be completed by saying “Yes, indeed. The highway will be open as promised by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

“It is the goal of this generation of HHIC leadership to leave a legacy of a safe and completed 4-lane highway for the future,” he added.  “The highway will provide greater access to education, provide safer mobility throughout the region, and bring jobs to the communities along the Corridor, making it possible for future generations to stay within their communities.” 

For additional information on the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor project, contact Will Wingfield, Indiana Department of Transportation, at 317-233-4675.  The Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor is one of the largest projects in the Major Moves Construction Program.

Additional information about the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor Highway Coalition can be found on the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor, Inc.’s website http://www.hhicinc.com.

History

In January of 1982, the Indiana Department of Highways (INDOH) began the development of a long-range state highway plan covering the period from 1985 to 2005. As part of this process, the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor, Inc., working with the Indiana General Assembly and the Indiana Department of Highways, helped enact House Bill 1700 to study the feasibility of building the Heartland Highway.

This bill led to the 1987 study which established the baseline for completing the highway.  The Indiana Department of Highways has since transitioned into the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). 

Today, the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor is designated by Congress as Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) High Priority Corridor 4. Segments of this bistate Corridor are either under construction or have been completed. The Fort Wayne bypass was opened in late 1995.  The Logansport-to-Peru segment was opened in 1999. The Huntington-to-Wabash segment of the Corridor was opened in 2000.

The Fort-to-Port segments of Corridor 4 in Indiana and Ohio are under construction and will be open to traffic by late 2012 or early 2013. The Lafayette-to-Logansport segment of the Corridor is scheduled to be open to traffic by late 2013.