One of the things you hear so often from defenders of this project is that Bloomington’s government has known about this plan for years and failed to comment on it, why are we making a big deal about it now at the last moment? This is of course not true, as there have been numerous groups expressing concerns about this project. Here are a few official letters on the subject (which INDOT has not addressed).
- Bloomington Bike&Ped Commission Recommendations from July 2007
- Bloomington Transit Recommendations on E 10th Street (including 10th & Bypass intersection improvements) from June 2007 (not only have their recommendations for the intersection with the bypass been ignored, but I do not believe there has been a response to the rest). There is also a letter from Mayor Kruzan imploring INDOT to not ignore the letter from B-T, and a letter from B-TOP explaining why B-T’s suggestions are so important (transit use is growing while car use is shrinking on E 10th!).
- IU and the city negotiated to build a pedestrian bridge over the bypass at 10th St, but IU dropped support for the proposal
I know there have been many more suggestions and plans which have “fallen on the floor,” so add your own experiences in the comments!
And that brings us to the point, which is that you can contact INDOT with your own questions and comments. INDOT is not used to interacting with the public. Generally at the most they have to get a couple lawyers together to steamroll a local planning organization. The project is not due to be let until October, so there is still time to reconsider some design elements. If nothing else, we can surprise them by letting them know that the citizens of Bloomington actually care about their roads. Here are some people at INDOT to contact:
- Rickie Clark – rclark@indot.in.gov – 317-232-6601 – Public Hearings Manager – organized the public information meeting that was cancelled
- Will Wingfield – wwingfield@indot.in.gov – 317-467-3910 – Communications Director – advised us to contact the next three people directly:
- Marvin Jenkins – mjenkins2@indot.in.gov – 812-524-3733 – Public Information Officer, Seymour District
- Randy Brown – rybrown@indot.in.gov – 317-232-5020 – Program Director
- Glenda Seal – gseal@indot.in.gov – 812-524-3720 – Customer Service Manager