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please in my front yard     Goshen Truck Count   
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These are three of the through vehicles counted on April 24, 2000. They are headed north.
A truck and two manufactured houses photographed as they passed Goshen College on April 24, 2000.


Links to more pictures, essays, about the traffic problems and solutions in Goshen, IN
Click the item you want to see.

    "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.
     

  • NIMBYS vs PIMFYS: An illustrated essay from a Not-In-My-Backyard person about the Please-In-My-Front-Yard people who are responsible for much of Goshen's traffic problems. 
  • The Goshen News Online: These pages may include something about this topic, depending on what the editors decide to put online. Here are the lyrics of the "Land of Goshen" song written by third graders at Chandler Elementary School. Chandler has the school crossing doomed to become more hazardous by the INDOT's street widening proposal for Madison Street. INDOT and local city officials want to accommodate the 18 wheelers and the double-wide houses passing the school. Chandler Elementary is also on Eighth Street, as is Parkside Elementary School.  MACOG's traffic projections predict much heavier traffic on Eighth Street with this Thoroughfare Project than with a Bypass Project for Goshen. Also see Diesel Smoke and consider its effect on the our children.
  • Here is a site that helps ordinary citizens with good ideas face the power of City Hall.

    • 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. 
     
  • What is Quality of Life in a Neighborhood? This site lists what is important to people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    •  
  • See a referendum ballot initiative from the League of Women Voters of  El Dorado County, California, that would charge developers for the cost of roadways needed as the result of their development. In Indiana, we all pay for roads even though we have no profits from the developments. Furthermore, homeowners and landowners are forced to submit to eminent domain appraisals which may not fairly compensate for the losses suffered, particularly when family homesteads are destroyed or when beautiful front yards are mutilated. Who should be paying these costs when large corporate developers benefit at the expense of the average taxpayer and property owner? Is eminent domain actually the best way to deal with the powerless homeowner when the need for the road improvements is clearly the result of new development?
    Local Government and community representatives and agencies you can e-mail, write, or phone with your questions, opinions, and ideas. If you find a web site for them, please contact us (we have not found their web sites).
     
  • Mayor Allan J. Kauffman  Phone 219-533-8621, or write to Mayor, City of Goshen, 111 E. Jefferson St., Goshen, IN 46526.  E-mail : Mayor Allen Kauffman  allankauffman@goshencity.com

    • or at: kauffman@maplenet.net 
    The Goshen Public Library  This is a place we can find a copy of letters to INDOT related to traffic and road plans in Goshen.  They also have INDOT' documents related to their current plans for Goshen.  Ask the reference librarian. 
  • The Face of the City, Goshen, IN.  Phone 219-533-3538,  Director, The Face of the City, 232 South Main Street, Goshen, IN 46526  E-mail: goshendowntown@mail.com

 
    "If somebody wants put nuclear waste in your backyard, you don't have to understand the half-life of radioactivity in order to have an opinion."
    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 or the widening of 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
  • John Carr, Division of Historic Preservation and Architecture, 402 West Washington St., Room W274, Indianapolis, IN 46204 -or- phone 317-232-1646  -  See "Historic Dwellings Slated for Demolition" by Carole Summy. Goshen News,  page 1,  August 15, 1999.
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 Voice for Concerned Citizens - Goshen, Indiana
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Write your letter today stating your concerns related INDOT's proposed Projects: U.S. 33/Goshen 
Des #: 9222424, 9222425 & 9222426 and to the related widening of Third Street in Goshen 
(not numbered as of June 30, 2000).

You might mention the damage to Goshen's Historic District, the separation of neighborhoods, the impact on minority populations who live in the area, the safety of children and pedestrians, and other concerns you have.   While the city supports the concept of peripheral county roads, they have not been willing to seriously consider a high speed bypass to adequately connect Goshen to other major high speed roads and other communities.

Citizen oversight is important assure that Federal regulations are properly followed when Federal funds are used for a project.  For information about the latest Federal regulations see this link. 

TEA-21 - Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century

Federal Highway Administration
Federal Office Buillding, Room 254
575 N. Pennsylvania
Indianapolis IN 4629

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