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Crumbling infrastructure poses challenges for agriculture

Infrastructure is vitally important to transporting Indiana’s agricultural goods.  During an informal Town Hall meeting with Governor Mike Pence at the Indiana State Fair on Wednesday, farmer Mike Beard brought up the state’s crumbling infrastructure.  “The ratings for our roads and our local bridges have gone backwards,” he says.  “We’ve been spending the last few years trying to get back to even.  As we all know it takes money to repair roads and bridges and develop infrastructure.”

Beard tells Brownfield he wanted a commitment from Governor Pence to look at infrastructure and the role it plays in Indiana’s economy – specifically agriculture.  “I don’t think I got a real commitment,” he says.  “But what I did get was a recognition of the problem and a promise to look at infrastructure in the upcoming year’s legislature and make this a part of his agenda.”

Most recently 50 miles of I-65 has been shut down because of a damaged bridge.

Beard says the shutdown is disruptive.  “In my local area I’m seeing increased traffic because of the detours,” he says.  “The increased traffic is harder on the roads that we do have and much of the traffic is ending up on local roads and it is just destroying those local roads.”

Beard says he markets grain just a few miles up the road in Lafayette – but the I-65 shutdown has made transporting grain nearly impossible.