TERRE HAUTE — In another part of the country, some political spin master could pluck a few key words and have a field day.
It’s not hard to imagine an indignant talk-show pundit muttering, “Want to know how your federal stimulus money is being used? Well, get this — Team Obama is spending $3.3 million on a ditch in Terre Haute, Indiana. Can you say, Ditch to Nowhere?”
Hopefully, the roar of earthmovers will soon drown out such cynicism.
The debate over President Obama’s plan to modernize America’s infrastructure (roads, railways, bridges and watersheds) can go on and on like the old Miller Lite commercials — “Sounds great” … “Less spending” … “Sounds great” … “Less spending” …
But the bottom line is this: A flood-protection plan, which Terre Haute folks need and have been working on for decades, will now get finished. By 2011, six miles of true floodwalls along Thompson Ditch will shield hundreds of homes and businesses from a 100-year flood. The ditch was carved through Terre Haute’s south side nearly 40 years ago to improve water drainage, rather than to specifically control flooding. It is, well, a ditch. Its limitations were exposed on June 7, 2008, when the city experienced its worst flood since 1913.
On Tuesday morning, Obama’s secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack, stood on the burm of the ditch and announced that $3.3 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would be used for the long-awaited completion of the Honey Creek-Vigo Conservancy District Watershed project.
That’s a lot of words. In a nutshell, Terre Haute will be a drier, safer place. That’s a good thing. Period.
Craig McKee, the attorney for the conservancy district, turned to Vilsack and said the commitment was “very good news, Mr. Secretary, not only for the protection of people in southern Vigo County, but it’s good news for the local economy.”
He’s exactly right. The heart of the Terre Haute economy — the new Crossroads of America, as McKee put it — lies within that district. The intersection of U.S. 41 and Interstate 70 is a local “gold mine,” he said, containing Honey Creek Mall, Terre Haute Regional Hospital, Terre Haute South Vigo High School, hotels, restaurants, salons, a bowling alley, car dealerships, strip malls, health-care facilities, stores, golf courses, houses and apartments. A news release distributed by Vilsack’s USDA staff said 390 homes and 190 businesses are located in the 1,300-acre area. But those numbers were compiled when the conservancy district was planning the project in the early 1990s. The number of residences and businesses in that part of town has grown immensely since then.
Last June, the impact of flooding became harshly clear. High waters ruined belongings, homes and businesses. Once the water receded, drenched family photos, clothes, mattresses and appliances were piled up outside people’s front doors.
To be sure, the 2008 flood packed unique force. It surpassed the 100-year level, and earned the rare label as a 500-year (or more) flood. The restructured Thompson Ditch — even with its six-mile system of earthen and concrete dikes — is designed to withstand a 100-year flood, but not a 500. Still, when it’s done in two years, residents and shop owners can sleep more peacefully when long stretches of heavy rains hit.
That’s what good government should help provide — reasonable safety.
And, in this brutally long recession, the construction jobs involved in the project will benefit local contractors in the short run, McKee pointed out. In the long run, the projected benefits generated by its completion will be $1.97 million annually, or $98 million over its 50-year lifespan.
Vilsack was correct when he said, “This is the kind of project we need to do more of in this country. We have not reinvested in our infrastructure.” He vowed it would be carried out with fiscal transparency.
This project perfectly fits the concept of the economic recovery plan — a shovel-ready, one-time undertaking that will have lasting value while also putting people to work. It should look just as good to Texans or New Yorkers as it does to Hauteans. Of course, that often is wishful thinking. It’s human nature to be skeptical of anything benefiting the other guy, rather than us.
“We all know that when we look at the expenditure of tax dollars, tax dollars that are spent in somebody else’s state for somebody else’s project are always boondoggles,” McKee aptly noted. “And federal dollars that are spent on projects that meet local needs are the federal government at its best. That’s just real life.”
Fortunately for Terre Haute, this project will become real very soon.
Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.
Mark Bennett B-Sides
Related Photos
Discussion
MARK BENNETT: Obama’s infrastructure plan means TH will be a drier, safer place
- Mark Bennett B-Sides
-
-
MARK BENNETT: 500 history runs in her veins, but she’ll pass on the buttermilk
Katy Balch appreciates tradition. The 20-year-old from Terre Haute understands how neatly her role as one of 33 Indianapolis 500 princesses fits her family.
-
B-SIDES: Bloomington brain exhibit gives us something to think about
Most of us never think about our brain.
-
MARK BENNETT: Read me to sleep, mom
She read. They listened, staring at the pages.
-
MARK BENNETT: A lesson to be learned from Lugar’s loss
It can happen to one of the nation’s most revered, principled, effective, hard-working U.S. senators.
And, if it hasn’t already, it can happen to you. -
MARK BENNETT: Despite challenges, 2012 grads have youth, tenacity on their side
Let the doomsday crowd line up like a scene from “Animal House.”
-
MARK BENNETT: Political life imitates art
A movie plot typically touches the extremes of life.
-
MARK BENNETT: When it came to artwork, ‘Salty’ always kept it real
The depth of my visual art expertise mirrors that of Neil Young.
-
MARK BENNETT: Ongoing challenge: To keep Mother Nature from getting trashed
Soggy, mud-caked jeans and a formerly white T-shirt were my youngest son’s summertime uniform, as a kid.
-
Playing a legend: Broadway actor practiced hundreds of shots, visited Terre Haute to play Sycamore legend in 'Magic/Bird'
Until now, the words “Larry Bird” and “Broadway production” simply would not appear in the same sentence.
-
MARK BENNETT: How much of your spring break will be spent in the digital world?
It seems harsh to give folks a math assignment on the brink of spring break, but wisdom should never take a holiday, so here goes.
-
MARK BENNETT: Litter trashes scenery on first day of spring
A mop is an ironic piece of litter.
Someone once used it to keep floors spotless. When its utility ended, this cleaning device became trash on the edge of a road. -
MARK BENNETT: Food for thought
The finest hours in grocery shopping arrive after 10 p.m.
-
Need a tourney tip? Try the team that puts people to work
People filling out NCAA brackets and the Republican presidential candidates share the same problem.
-
MARK BENNETT: Manning leaves great memories for Colts fans
The emotion behind the words was obvious.
-
MARK BENNETT: Terre Haute native saw tornado bearing down on his school
Disaster drills often leave participants grumbling or wisecracking. Until, heaven forbid, they see what Tom Cullen saw Friday afternoon.
-
MARK BENNETT: Year of the River a common interest for diverse entities
Water can compel people to get better acquainted.
-
MARK BENNETT: Our greatest president had some help from an obscure relative
On this Presidents Day week, historians weigh the impact of Washington, Jefferson and the Roosevelts on Americans’ lives.
-
MARK BENNETT: Proposed trail would give river development momentum, reacquaint community with Wabash
Terre Haute and the Wabash River were like strangers living next door to each other.
-
MARK BENNETT: Super Bowl luck? His is mostly bad
I’ve learned to take a Seinfeld approach to Super Bowls.
In a flash of clairvoyance, Jerry excitedly reminded buddy George Costanza that “if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.” -
MARK BENNETT: Not-so-casual observers
In the minds of many adults, the most upstanding generation of young people was, ironically, their own.
-
MARK BENNETT: On the banks of the Wabash, a sculpture
Paul Dresser remembered his hometown at its best. Terre Haute should remember him the same way.
-
MARK BENNETT: A reminder for electorate: You get what you vote for
In the rear-view mirror of our lives, some days loom larger than we expected.
For many Hoosiers, the date Nov. 2, 2010, probably fits that category. -
MARK BENNETT: Keys to the future
Steve Witt fielded a jarring phone call in October 2007.
-
MARK BENNETT: Hall-of-Famer Larkin delivered more than clutch hits
A logjam of kids swelled behind the first-base dugout in Riverfront Stadium.
-
MARK BENNETT: Polian, Colts and Terre Haute were good for one another
Sentimentality seems alien in a discussion of Bill Polian.
That emotion rarely influenced his decisions in 14 seasons as the day-to-day boss of the Indianapolis Colts. He surely felt it, but seldom submitted to it. The NFL is a business, after all, with winning as its bottom line. Polian knew how to make that happen, and did. Anyone or anything threatening to divert the Colts from title contention could not linger. When it came to that mission, Polian functioned with all of the sentimentality of Joe Friday. -
MARK BENNETT: In this day and age, pure quiet is hard to find
It’s hard to emulate JFK — this JFK, at least.
-
MARK BENNETT: Rose professor’s bit part in classic holiday movie leaves a major memory
Most of us see a bit of ourselves in “A Christmas Story.” Mike Kukral does so, literally. The 1983 movie grew into a holiday classic because so many of its poignant, awkward and hilarious moments seem to have been pulled straight from our childhood memories.
-
MARK BENNETT: Ferrell’s love of Old Milwaukee shines light on Old Terre Haute
Will Ferrell didn’t walk through traffic at Seventh and Wabash for nothing.
Well, actually it might have been for nothing. Apparently, the comedian just likes Old Milwaukee so much that he came to Terre Haute, unannounced, one morning last September to film wacky commercials for the beer. -
MARK BENNETT: Holiday season makes going to the mailbox fun again
Ants decided to set up a colony in our family’s mailbox last summer.
-
MARK BENNETT: First impressions: City benefits from hearing visitors’ views of community
The town should blush.
- More Mark Bennett B-Sides Headlines
-
MARK BENNETT: 500 history runs in her veins, but she’ll pass on the buttermilk
Obama Honors Fallen Troops at Arlington Cemetery
Raw Video: Cop Shoots Man Eating Another's Face
Raw Video: Deadly Explosion at Minn. Paper Mill
Man in Crane at Texas College Says He's Armed
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Romney Promises World's Strongest Military
Beryl Knocks Out Power in Florida
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Obama Pays Tribute to Vietnam Veterans
Raw Video: Memorial Day Aboard Intrepid
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
Raw Video: Obama Lays Wreath on Memorial Day
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Raw Video: National Mall Concert Shut Down
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
J.Lo and Marc's Friendly Reunion
Justin Bieber Accused of Assaulting Photographer - Glen Walker reports
Cynthia Nixon Ties the Knot
Woman, 80, Falls Out of Skydive Harness Mid-Jump
Keira Reveals Engagement Ring
Dog runs alonside cyclists for 1,100 miles
Lady Gaga Cancels Indonesian Show After Threats
Long Story Short: Beyonce back on stage
Raw Video: Man Rescued From River in China
Celtics crush Sixers in Game 7
Alleged Lego Thief Faces Felony Charges
Has Snooki Named Her Baby?
Heat Wave Warms Holiday Weekend
Beyonce Entertains the First Family
Inspiration for the class of 2012
