New highway has business owner worried

AMERICUS, Ind. (WLFI) - It's a project that has been years in the making and now it is finally coming together. The Hoosier Heartland Corridor (HHC) is in its final years of completion. For some, it brings hopes of new growth but for others it brings concern.

Amid the sights of excavators, dump trucks and construction signs, lies a freshly poured stretch of pavement connecting new bridges rising through the countryside. It's all part of the new HHC.

"The entire stretch, the 35-mile stretch of the Hoosier Heartland that spans from Lafayette to Logansport, is scheduled to open for traffic in November of 2013," said Indiana Department of Transportation spokesperson Debbie Calder.

The project is on schedule and on budget. Drivers will have a new option for travel, making the old two lanes of State Road 25 less desirable.

"It's definitely going to have a traffic impact," said Dave Morrison, who owns the Citgo gas station and convenience store in Americus.

Morrison and his wife have owned the Citgo gas station for more than 15 years. It's their only source of income, leaving him worried about the future.

"They expect two-thirds of the traffic to be off this road almost immediately. So, that's really going to hurt the commuter business," said Morrison.

For Morrison, being in the convenience store business is all about being convenient for his customers. It's not the gas that makes him money: it is what is inside his store.

"By the time you pay all your fees and taxes there is really no money to be had. If you make enough to pay a light bill a month, you've done okay some months. But your store is what sustains you," said Morrison.

Just down the road, Dave Beigh is the owner of the Pizza King in Americus and has lived in the area for more than 30 years. A new bypass doesn't concern him too much since the majority of his business is local.

"Our business is the local people around the area within about a seven-mile radius. Of course, we deliver to them so that works out pretty good in that respect," said Beigh.

Beigh admits he was concerned about the HHC when the plan was first announced, but he said the decrease in traffic could be a good thing for the small towns along State Road 25.

"Our speed limit out here never gets observed. People are going through here, even the larger vehicles and so forth, don't slow down," said Beigh.

Some of the customers at the Citgo station are locals as well, but not as many as Pizza King's. Morrison said on a scale of one to ten, his concern is an eight.

"Hopefully it's enough to sustain us. So with that... I'm not a 10 yet. We'll ride that eight and see what happens," said Morrison.

Thursday on News Channel 18 at 6:00 p.m., part two of our series Business on the Bypass takes us north to Delphi. City leaders there are hopeful for future development, but also have a plan in place to make sure the someday less traveled downtown won't be affected.