(INDIANAPOLIS) – The last two governors have proposed a fourth Indiana port. The state is approaching a deadline to pull the trigger on it:
Indiana has a purchase option until the end of the year on a former American Electric Power plant property in Lawrenceburg. Budget director Micah Vincent says the state is reviewing whether the property is suitable for a port — for instance, whether it’s close enough to the highway, or if new roads would be needed.
And the state is crunching numbers on whether the port’s economic benefits really are worth the investment.
Indiana has ports at Burns Harbor on Lake Michigan, and at Mount Vernon and Jeffersonville on the Ohio River. Vincent says Lawrenceburg would cover another section of the state — he says some shippers won’t locate anywhere that doesn’t have a port within 75 miles.
Vincent says the property is the right size, and more than 100 miles from the nearest port in Jeffersonville, and still has some equipment in place that could be repurposed for a port. Vincent isn’t saying what the state will do if its review concludes the Lawrenceburg site won’t work.
(Photo: Tom Mihalek/Getty Images)
