Michael Grovak, Project Manager
Bernardin, Lochmueller & Associates
6200 Vogel Road
Evansville, IN 47715-4006

Dear Sir:

I oppose any I-69 route except Evansville-Terre Haute-Indianapolis,
Alternative 1. My factual reasons if I correctly understand them are:

1. It will cause the least "New Terrain" disturbance to the southwestern
Indiana environment.

2. Alt 1 is the lowest cost.

3. The fewest homes will be lost.

4. I understand Terre Haute wants the route.

5. I understand the Bloomington City Council voted 5-2 against it.

6. John Lawrence Smith of Bloomington quoted a Crane employee stating that
with 24/7 shipping (presumeably for the coming Iraq war), there was no
transportation bottleneck other than a labor shortage:
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"Crane you say?  One who loads the ammunition on the trucks said at a
local meeting, 'We don't have a transportation problem, we have a labor
shortage"  We can ship out of four exits 24 hours a day.  We have 2 rail
lines.  We can't load the trucks and trains fast enough to tax the system.
We provided the bulk of the weapons that won the gulf war in ten days, a
decade ago. This is a navel ammunition base.  If speed of delivery were
more important than remoteness, wouldn't we put this ammunition closer to
water?  This base was put here exactly because it is remote.'"
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My personal opinion reasons for opposing non-alt-1 routes are that I believe
that placing Bloomington on an International traffic route will inevitably
lower the quality of life here and throughout the New Terrain route.  Many if
not most people would prefer to live on a cull-de-sac street, and Bloomington
currently analogizes to that situation. If Bloomington's adequate 4-lane
connection with Indianapolis were made through to Mexico, the transient
population would sharply increase and then the permanent population increase
would follow. With population increases inevitably come petty crime, tax
increases, drug trafficking; and, ultimately a higher murder rate that would
make everyone local feel less safe, even if it was merely proportional to
the increased population.

Sincerely,

Jim Berkey

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