~ by Jeff Tryon
As a controversial road improvement project through Yellowwood State Forest moves into a second generation of opposition by local residents, it reveals deeper questions about the fabric of a rural community and what best supports the tourism industry in Brown County.
The Indiana Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural Resources plan to improve several miles of Yellowwood Road which runs through the 23,000-acre Yellowwood State Forest, connecting Highway 46 with Lanam Ridge Road.
Under the current plan, set to begin construction in 2017, about four miles of the existing road would receive a chip-andseal overlay on top of the existing surface. Another two miles would be raised and widened, a new bridge built over Salt Creek, and a half-mile section would be re-routed to the other side of Jackson Creek.
For some Yellowwood Lake area residents, this is just the latest version of a project they’ ve been trying to stop since the 1990s.
Monique Cagle, who grew up on the road and now occupies an historic homestead there, said her mother, Dorothy Stewart, was among the original“ Friends of Yellowwood” who opposed a similar road upgrade in the 1980s and 90s.
“ We all banded together and fought it, and stopped it, temporarily anyway,” she said.
52 Our Brown County • March / April 2015
Improvements or Impairments?
Yellowwood
Along the northern end of the road, INDOT will fill in the creek, and put the road in its place, then dig out the old road bed and put the creek there. courtesy photos
“ Now it’ s back again.” The Friends had a long history of organizing, giving input, and rallying public opinion on crucial Yellowwood watershed quality issues. Cagle said the project will change“ the whole fabric of the neighborhood.”
“ I think the whole thing is going to be really ugly,” she said.“ It’ s very pretty and picturesque, and I know a lot of people who are from out of town, who are tourists, who say,‘ We come to Brown County and we love these rural back roads.’ They like to drive slow and look at things.”
“ They’ re going to cut down a bunch of trees along Salt Creek and reshape the banks of the creek,” she said.“ They’ re going to take out the existing bridge and they’ re going to dismantle the old iron bridge that’ s been there since 1900. They’ ll put in a bridge that will go diagonally across the creek. Part of the road will be built up on a three-foot dike.”
Yellowwood Property Manager Jim Allen said the scope of the project has been reduced considerably since it was originally proposed in the 90s.
“ It was going to be a pretty major highway, but, through the comments we’ ve had, we’ ve worked as much as we can at keeping the footprint the same as existing, although the pavement will extend a little bit further down to all of our recreation facilities,” Allen said.
“ I don’ t know if you’ ve been out on this road lately, but its falling apart pretty bad,” Allen said.“ The county doesn’ t really have the funds to fix it