City of Delphi hopeful for new growth

DELPHI, Ind. (WLFI) - The Hoosier Heartland Corridor (HHC) has some wondering if their business will stay alive along the old highway. But others think the future remains bright.

"We're looking at several hundred acres in that area as a development project," said Delphi Mayor Randy Strasser about an area of vacant land by the HHC.

Once the HHC is complete, Mayor Strasser is hoping the new highway will bring new business to the city. Located around the U.S. 421 interchange south of Delphi are several hundred acres for future development.

"We're seeing maybe strip malls or commercial type settings like that. It could be office buildings. You may even see a mix where you might have residential on an upper floor and business on the lower levels," said Strasser.

While the hopes are high for development along the new bypass, steps are also in place to make sure the downtown area doesn't suffer after traffic falls off.

"We're as stable as I think we've been in the last 15 to 20 years with storefronts in the downtown actually being full," said Strasser.

Mayor Strasser and local economic development teams are working on a downtown revitalization project as well. He estimates a decrease of 30 to 40 percent in traffic downtown. But, Mayor Strasser said that could be a good thing.

"When we lose that congestion, we think it will be more of an attractive downtown area for people to actually have businesses, restaurants, maybe more festivals or other things that we're actually looking at," said Strasser.

News Channel 18 wanted to see the affects a bypass could have on a city's economy, good or bad, first hand. So, we traveled an hour and a half north east to the community of Wabash.

In the late 70s, the U.S. 24 bypass was complete, giving drivers a new option for commuting and businesses a new option for location. Delphi could learn from the city of Wabash's experience. Mayor Bob Vanlandingham said to this day, his city has only grown.

"We've had a lot of growth out there in the last few years. Wal-Mart recently moved in. We have a Big R store now. It seems like the businesses want to go that way," said Vanlandingham.

Mayor Vanlandingham said the corridor is extremely important to the community. He said at first, the project had its critics.

"You can always find individuals that have this or this, they don't like about something, but over all it's been a plus for this community and a plus for this region," said Vanlandingham.

Friday at 6:00 in part Three of our series the Business on the Bypass, we'll visit downtown Wabash and see exactly what affect the city's by-pass had on downtown businesses. We'll also tell you why the bypass is prompting the city to purchase hundreds of acres of ground next to U.S. 24.