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MISSION STATEMENT These pages are posted for the purpose of advocating better quality of life and less traffic noise, hazards, and pollution through the center of Goshen, Indiana, by constructing a limited access bypass around the city. Trucks and manufactured houses should no longer be permitted to pass through the center of Goshen.
Main Street, Goshen, Indiana, November, 1999 Yes, Goshen has the dubious distinction of being a town where you can be killed by a house while shopping downtown on Main Street. These houses came into Goshen on South Main, passed Goshen College, and passed through on North Main. These are mostly residential streets. City officials are currently proposing a shunt over one block west to skirt the central business district portion of Main Street. This section of Third Street is partially residential. If this plan goes forward as proposed, the truck route will divide the central business district from the more attractive scenic areas along the race and river. Visitors will not wish to traverse this barrier. "The number of 18 wheel semis which passed this checkpoint (at Main and Lincoln) during the 7 1/2 hour study was 725. The number of other large commercial trucks was 519, manufactured housing 12 and RV’s 75 for a total of 1,331 large commercial vehicles. The significance of this heavy amount of commercial traffic is measured not just in numbers but should as well be measured by the impact of this traffic upon Goshen, its central business area and near neighborhoods." quotation from: 4/24/ 2000, Press ConferenceWho can blame shoppers for going out to the malls instead of parking or walking downtown? Currently, the City Council majority, the Mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, and The Face of the City support the INDOT plan that widens US 33, Madison Street, and shifts the truck route downtown from Main Street to Third Street (one block west). How can the Face of the City benefit when the Heart of the City is over run by noisy trucks? This "Thoroughfare Plan" is supposed to attract more traffic through Goshen and allowing more traffic (trucks included) to move through easier. How can this be good for Goshen? Goshen's Thoroughfare Plan does call for peripheral county road improvements in an attempt to attract some truck traffic away from the city. To date, they do not have routes and they do not have funding for these county roads. Wouldn't a state/federal road built and maintained with state/federal funds be better? Most of the largest trucks are not local trucks. Why should local taxes and governments be responsible for their roads? Do we really need to destroy Goshen in order to save it? Is the Face of The City asking for cosmetic facial surgery when a Heart Bypass is needed to avoid death? The Heart of the city is being killed by truck traffic. Shunting trucks one block to the west is still infecting the heart. This shunt still divides very important city assets. A Bypass needs to be built first. Once destroyed, the assets at the heart of Goshen can not be recovered. Even Kokomo, the city cited as having lost its downtown because of a peripheral road has now asked INDOT to build them a true limited access bypass. Kokomo never really had a bypass - only a peripheral road like the ones being proposed in Goshen's Thoroughfare Plan. If peripheral roads are not limited access, they fail. They turn into sprawl. They proliferate strip malls and suck commerce out of the city. With a real limited access bypass, even Kokomo can once again have the peace in which to develop a thriving community.
Press Conference, May 8, 2000 Remember the Pinto fire killing three just north of Goshen Second Year Urban Planning Studio Class Student Assignment: Goshen US 33 Study presented on April 12, 2000 at the Goshen Public Library The Goshen News
Links to more pictures, essays, about the traffic
"Enthusiasts of traffic calming point to places like Winter Park, near Orlando in Florida, where traffic moves very slowly through narrow, tree-lined streets, with plenty of parking and the kind of lively retail scene that seems to be deserting other US cities." http://www.globalideasbank.org/crespec/CS-134.HTML In Goshen, a very small percentage of the trucks are making downtown deliveries, and they can do it during off peak hours and at night. NOT ONE of the double-wide houses is making a downtown delivery. The so-called "local truck traffic" is, for the most part, being generated by commerce and industry on the edges of Goshen and nearby towns. Do you know that if a trucker wants to drive to or from a southeast plant near US33 and CR38 or CR40, they are required to first go to downtown Goshen before they can go to or from New Paris, Warsaw, Nappanee, or Milford south of Goshen? This is their shortest route. They actually are forced by current truck route rules to detour to downtown Goshen. Many companies have several plants and they move lots of inventory from plant to plant. This so-called local traffic could move around Goshen on a bypass rather than first going downtown to get on another highway. A properly
designed limited access bypass accommodates industry and commerce on the
edges of the city. It allows the trucks servicing the edges of the city
to exit the city, no matter which way they are headed. The
center of the city becomes off limits to through trucks and once again
becomes a friendly and inviting place for people.
This Traffic Congestion theory from a Wall Street Journal article also states that we should not widen the streets to facilitate faster traffic flow. This link is a summary from the article in Wall Street Journal (Aug. 7, '96).See this link for more on this theory.
It is called, "THE CONTROL GAME" It is a guide for recognizing political control used by corporations, consultant firms, and government entities. Yes, we can resist bad ideas from City Hall, INDOT, and their consultants. This site helps us recognize the strategies they can use against us.
Transfer interrupted!tp://hometown.aol.com/macogplanr/macog.htm">The MACOG home page. | E-mail to MACOG
Chairman, Roads and Transportation, Indiana State Senate. E-mail
Government and community representatives and agencies your can e-mail, write, or phone with your questions, opinions, and ideas. If you find a web site for them, please e-mail: Marvin Bartel or at: kauffman@maplenet.net
James Burke, author of The Knowledge Web,
Simon and Shuster ©1999
This quote was from James Burke on National Public Radio, June 29, 1999
This doesn't mean that traffic is similar to nuclear waste. It means that we have a responsibility speak up when we are concerned by government proposals that may effect our neighborhoods. If we don't, who will? mb Government and community representatives and agencies your can write, or phone with your questions, opinions, and ideas. They don't seem to have Internet access. If you find any, please e-mail: marvinpb@goshen.edu
Text only Home Letter to MACOG Letter to INDOT Diesel Smoke NEW Link - Truck Survey, April 24, 2000 Check out Goshen's Old Town Neighborhood Association Pros and Cons of the Northern Connector Route NIMBYS vs PIMFYS (please in my front yard) text version NIMBYS vs PIMFYS (please in my front yard) graphic version (includes photos) NEW Link - 2-2000 Letter to The Goshen News An 18 wheeler truck ends up in front yard of a home at 5th and Madison on Februay 2, 2000 2-98 Letter to The Goshen News Letter State Senator Riegsecker 10-99 Letter to Goshen News 9-98 Letter to Goshen News Links to government representatives Other Links addresses and phone numbers to write and call |
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updated 6-2000
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