Local resident pushes for safer highways

BLOOMINGTON -- A Bloomington resident is pushing for changes to a hilly stretch of highway southwest of the city, which she blames for a crash that left her husband severely injured.\nJames Mathis received broken bones and brain damage in a head-on collision July 28 on Indiana 45. Police have said they believe a truck crossed the center line, hitting Mathis' truck and causing it to go airborne and roll, according to his wife, Roxie Mathis.\nNow Roxie Mathis has vowed to see that changes are made to the highway.\n"Something needs to be done," she said. "It's ridiculous. The day of his wreck, there were two other wrecks on that road."\nMathis said she will do whatever it takes to see that there are changes to the road, from collecting signatures on a petition to talking to legislators or advocating for Interstate 69, part of which would run through Greene County.\n"Maybe it wouldn't be so congested if they built I-69," she said. "All those people are worried about their homes. Well, they can get another home, but I can never replace my husband."\nThe hilly, curvy road does see its share of accidents, Greene County Sheriff Leon Allen said.\nJust inside Greene County, the highway heads south to the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center. Allen said part of the problem stems from congestion -- the road is heavily traveled by Monroe County residents commuting to Crane for work and Greene County residents commuting to Bloomington for work.\nThe other part of the problem lies in the roadway itself. Hills and curves make it difficult to see, and there is not much room on either side to get out of the way if there is trouble, Allen said.\nAllen agrees that I-69 could lighten some of the truck traffic that currently uses the corridor. But he also wishes he had more deputies to put on road duty.\n"We've got a limited number of officers to handle our calls," Allen said. "And they've got virtually no time for traffic patrol."\nNothing short of drastic change will do for Mathis, who still cannot bear to look at the photos of the mangled remains of her husband's truck.\n"Something has to be done," she said. "And I'm going to do everything I can so something will be done"