Traffic Flow through San Pierre
The maps below show the numbers of vehicles passing through San Pierre and surrounding areas on any given day. These maps were compiled from data supplied by the Indiana Department of Transportation, dating from 2003.
Each day, some 4490 vehicles pass through San Pierre headed north and south on US Highway 421 - the main north-south corridor through the region. By comparison, only 3110 vehicles head north-south along State Road 49 through Wheatfield, and only 2610 vehicles travel north-south along State Road 39 through North Judson. Between 1720 and 2990 vehicles travel east to west through San Pierre along Indana State Raod 10. By comparison, between 2730 and 2770 vehicles pass east-west through LaCrosse on State Road 8, and between 1110 and 1560 vehicles travel east-west along State Road 14 between Medaryville and Francesville. Traffic numbers spike considerably the closer one gets to Valparaiso.
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The amount of traffic through San Pierre is an important issue to the community. To better attract a gas station, grocery store, or other new businesses that rely on drive-by traffic, a case needs to be made that there will be sufficient numbers of vehicles moving through the area to support such businesses. On the other hand, an increased volume of traffic, more trucks down-shifting through town, higher speeds of traffic, and more congestion, could all compromise San Pierre's small town character, impact public safety, and increase pollution (both air quality and noise pollution) in the area.
In 2005, a group called the 421 Curve organized in San Pierre and successfully stopped the Indiana Department of Transportation from straightening the curve in U.S. Highway 421 as it runs through the center of town. The following newspaper article is from the Starke County NewsHawk:
US 421 Project Becomes Controversial
SAN PIERRE - An unusual outdoor meeting on what is becoming
by John Reed, Starke County NewsHawk, June 29, 2005
a controversial project - rebuilding U.S. 421 through this small,
unincorporated community - is being held in San Pierre Wednesday,
June 29. The meeting will be held at the intersection of the highway
with Ann Street at 9:30 a.m. The project is now four years away,
possibly more, and details are sketchy. After three weeks of contact,
the LaPorte District Office of INDOT referred the NewsHawk to
Jessica Mace in the agency's Office of Communications. Another week
went by and Mace finally offered the following project description:
"This project is a slight distance correction or radii improvement
project. It is from 1 mile north of the south junction of (U.S.) 10
through the town of San Pierre." The description is incorrect, as
Highway 10 is an Indiana route, not a U.S. or federal route. The
project was initiated after a number of serious accidents with
injuries and apparently involves straightening out the roadway,
although area residents maintain the accidents have been few and
far between. Local residents seem not to want the roadway straightened.
At a recent meeting of the Starke County Commissioners, Lisa Shrader
of the LaPorte office said residents are looking for a low-profile
fix-up which would simply call for installing new traffic controls.
At last week's meeting, County Commissioner Kent Danford indicated
he was not in favor of the big realignment project. "I'm looking at
the issue from a safety standpoint. Straightening it out could make
speeding worse," Danford said. Shrader indicated she knew little
else about the project, and referred the NewsHawk to another engineer,
who never contacted the newspaper. The only other information INDOT
supplied was on the timing. "The current schedule reflects a ready for
contracts date of August of 2008, which means construction would
likely begin in the spring of 2009. A preliminary field check is
scheduled to occur sometime this year," Mace said. The plans are
available for public viewing at the LaPorte District Office, 315
Boyd Blvd.
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