To the editor:
I read with interest the Daily Journal story “Rough Road” (April 14) on the Boyd family members’ efforts to delay and even stop the new Interstate 69.
It is interesting that their stand earned them so much room in the newspaper. Someone seems to be forgetting why upgrading and replacing the busy State Road 37 route is being done.
It is NOT being done because Hoosiers want to keep road construction contractors in business. Nor is it being done because the state wants to inconvenience and even destroy homes and farms.
It is being done because traffic counts are already higher than existing roads can handle. It is being done because Indiana drivers need a safer highway that will handle larger traffic loads.
The family’s pride at being the last to have settled with the state is somewhat misplaced. We, the taxpayers, are paying for the delays to the highway. We are paying in dollars, as it costs more when such projects are delayed, but more importantly, we are paying in lives, as more lives will be lost when new, more forgiving highways are delayed.
While the Boyds have a right to be compensated for the loss of their land to the new highway, to say their effort to delay or derail the highway was the “right” thing to do is certainly open to interpretation.
Thinking beyond one’s own needs and desires is why we have eminent domain. The newspaper barely seems to realize there is more to this story than the Boyd’s point of view.
Terri Johnson
Franklin
