Local group discusses impact of HHH through Deer Creek Valley

Monon High Bridge The Monon High Bridge was one of the sights on the recent trail hike sponsored by Delphi Historic Trails. The Monon High Bridge Trail and the historic Deer Creek Valley will be affected by the route of the Hoosier Heartland Highway. A local committee is working with INDOT to lessen adverse impact and come up with solutions for retaining the historic integrity of the area. Photo provided

Editor's note: Anita Werling and Dan McCain provided information for the following story:

A planning group of 21 citizens met Dec. 27 at the home of Ken and Julie Pyle to discuss the current plans from INDOT for the Hoosier Heartland Highway as it cuts through the Deer Creek Valley Rural Historic District.

The group is part of an initiative for Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) outlined in a Memorandum of Agreement between INDOT and local government and historic organizations to minimize the impact of the HHH on this culturally rich, historically significant, and environmentally sensitive area. The CSS initiative allows local input into some of the design process for the HHH to lessen its visual and environmental impact on the region and to mitigate some of its negative effects, such as the severing of established trails.

Precedent-setting initiative

This is the first instance in Indiana in which INDOT has used CSS planning, and as a result the Deer Creek Valley initiative will help to set a standard for how CSS planning is done at other locations in the State. INDOT has held two meetings in Delphi with the local CSS planning group and another is scheduled for March. The local planning group has been meeting in the interim to study the HHH plans and to formulate suggestions and concerns for the INDOT project team about the Deer Creek Valley area of the highway.

Most of those at the planning meeting had participated in the hike through part of the Deer Creek Valley area on Dec. 26. It was sponsored by the Delphi Historic Trails group and led by Dan McCain. More than 100 people (a record for this walk) hiked the Monon trail from the Samuel Milroy monument out to High Bridge, stopping at the location at which the highway will sever the trail. There hikers tried to visualize how the scenery would change with the highway cutting up to 40 feet deep through the hillside opposite the creek, then bridging Deer Creek, and finally progressing through the valley on a roadbed sitting atop 30 feet of fill.

The walk continued into the valley and on toward Deer Creek. In this area, just east of downtown Delphi, hikers viewed early pioneer settlement landscapes, the Bossard Falls, Slate Bluff, and the old mill damsite near Robinson's Run. All were viewed with consideration of where and how the massive cuts and fills of the highway project will affect the landscape.

Next spring a similar hike will be offered to explore the south side of Deer Creek Valley where the old Pioneer Road, waterfall and overlooks afford an appreciation for the Bowen Woods. This area may become a landlocked isolated nature area after the new highway is completed.

According McCain, one mission of the trails group is to get INDOT to provide trail access across Deer Creek to join the Monon Trail with the Bowen Trace.

Target areas, suggestions

The purpose of Thursday evening's planning meeting was to drive toward consensus on a few key areas: the design of the bridge over Deer Creek; the roadway design through the valley toward 300 N; and the intersection with extended Main Street.

After much discussion, the group agreed to ask INDOT to consider a separated-grade alternative to the at-grade T intersection now planned at the extended Main Street exit. Without planning for grade separation now, the exit might be at risk of being lost should the HHH become interstatelevel access in the future. Without the exit, the opportunity for a business route through Delphi's historic downtown could be lost.

A second request to INDOT was an alternative to the valley section of highway that requires fill, up to a level of 30 feet in spots, for the roadway to rest upon. The concern is over the impact that this amount of fill will have on the valley, the floodplain, and the viewlines of the area. At issue is where the fill would be mined without negative impact to the historic district and surrounding area. Equally of concern is the depth of the cuts to be made on the south side of Deer Creek and the impact of the viewlines there.

The group also agreed that the design for the bridge at Deer Creek needed to be attractive and to make a statement about our community. Although no specifics were determined as to what the bridge should look like, one suggestion was a façade treatment that would blend with the coloring and texture of the slate bluff that will be visible from the bridge.

Dan McCain is the current chairman, and Anita Werling, co-chairman, of the local committee involved with evaluating INDOT's plans. Other members of the committee are affiliated with the local historical organizations, the Rural Historic District and local governmental representatives.

Public input sought

More meetings of the group are being planned. Meanwhile, if members of the public wish to express their opinions to INDOT regarding Context Sensitive Solutions for the Deer Creek Valley portion of the SR25 Hooseir Heartland project, they can do so by picking up a comment form at the Canal Center or by emailing Aimee Kindred, INDOT SR25 Project Coordinator at akindred@ indot.in.gov. Additional information can be accessed at the Heartland Highway's website: http://sr25study.in.gov.