Several of the upcoming projects highlighted by Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett in his annual City Update address include the remodeling of Herz-Rose Park (top left); the Queen of Terre Haute Casino Resort (top right); the Brown Ave. stormwater drainage and sidewalk work (lower left); and the impact Terre Haute Regional Airport has on the community. Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza/submitted rendering
Several of the upcoming projects highlighted by Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett in his annual City Update address include the remodeling of Herz-Rose Park (top left); the Queen of Terre Haute Casino Resort (top right); the Brown Ave. stormwater drainage and sidewalk work (lower left); and the impact Terre Haute Regional Airport has on the community. Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza/submitted rendering
• •
Halting a population decline and increasing personal income are among immediate goals for the city of Terre Haute, Mayor Duke Bennett said Thursday in a 2023 City Update.

Those goals are also among the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce’s “See You in Terre Haute” 2025 community plan, unveiled in 2019. The chamber hosted the annual city update, attended by about 220 people, at the Terre Haute Convention Center.

“We really need to invest in ourselves: parks, infrastructure which is connected with street improvements, new gateways [at I-70 and U.S. 41 and Indiana 46/U.S. 40] and workforce development and housing,” said the mayor.

“We need to build more houses, make this a place people want to be and increase household income through better job opportunities. That is where we will all be successful,” Bennett said.

Bennett said about $1.8 million of a $20 million state READI – Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative – grant targets incentives for homebuilders.

The city will also apply for a second round of READI funds this year, and the mayor said he hopes the Wabash Valley area will be awarded at least $50 million.

New infrastructure projects include a Brown Avenue storm water improvement project, expected to be bid in July. The project, from Wallace Avenue to Dean Avenue/Anthony Drive, will include new storm drainage, new sidewalk and new road.

Trees along Brown Avenue have already been removed to allow utility relocation work. The city will also pave parts of 4th, 7th, Locust and Walnut streets as well as parts of Davis and Wabash Avenue using a $1 million Community Crossings state matching grant, the mayor said.

Employment

In employment, Terre Haute last year gained 473 jobs and $458 million in investment from industries such as Hydrite Chemical, C.H.I. Overhead Door, Great Dane Trailers, Steel Dynamics and Saturn Petcare.

This year, the mayor said Terre Haute/Vigo County is in the running to be a site for two to three major business projects, with one of those projects near a site decision.

“We will not get all of those, but if we get one or two of those, we will need 1,000 to 2,000 employees over the next five years. These are big investments,” the mayor said after his update speech. “Indiana is doing well when you look at the semiconductor area and the battery for electric vehicles… those are two areas that we are starting to see our fair share of interest in our community as we got the land available, taxes are low and crime is in a good spot,” the mayor said. From 2020 to 2022 total crime is down in the city, according to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System. In 2022, the city had 345 cases that includes aggravated assault, robbery, rape and murder, down from 388 cases in 2021 and 451 cases in 2020.

The city in 2022 had 2,975 cases that include burglary/ breaking and entering, theft and motor vehicle theft, down from 3,035 cases in 2021 and 3,017 cases in 2020.

The city has purchased new radios for all officers, at cost of $1.6 million, and will purchase new handguns for officers this year. The city will also hire 11 new police officers in 2023 to replace officers who retire, Bennett said.

For fire protection, the city this year obtained two new fire engines and ordered a new ladder truck to be delivered in 2026. It will get two new fire engines in 2024 and three new ambulances this year. The city will also hire 11 new firefighters in March, the mayor said.

Parks, quality of life

In quality of life efforts, Bennett said the city is targeting park improvement.

Up first is a major remake of Herz-Rose Park at 16th and Locust streets.

“We will remake the whole park,” the mayor said. “A new playground, a new shelter” plus add a splash pad and renovated basketball court and a public art piece.

This is part of a larger neighborhood revitalization project between 13th and 19th Streets and between Third Avenue and Chestnut Street, the mayor said.

A final design is near completion for Herz-Rose Park, with construction to be bid later this year, Bennett said.

“I think we can get [the park] all done in one year, so it will be done by next year,” the mayor said. “This is an area I felt that we could really make a difference in. That neighborhood is an area that has been declining. We have torn a lot of houses down there and that was one of the first indicators when I first took office” in 2007.

“We will build new homes in there, replace the streets, the lights, sidewalks. We will roll this out and explain it in more detail later,” the mayor said.

“We started with the park because, we as a city, wanted to make an investment to help people there see that we are coming with some big stuff,” he said.

“There are a lot of empty [home] spots there, even there on Locust Street there are probably six spots right across from the park, so this homebuilder incentive program can help in the inner city area where we need to have affordable housing and have homes that people can own.” That home building incentive program, using READI grant funds, includes waving sewer hookup fees and providing building sites, among other incentives, the mayor said.

The city will invest an estimated $8 million to $10 million in parks over the next five years, he said.

In addition to Herz-Rose Park, design is underway at Fairbanks Parks for about nine projects over the next five years, Bennett said.

Also, Deming Park’s pool is to be improved, including adding a zero entry pool, which replaces bulky stairs and ladders with a slope, creating a seamless transition between land and water.

At Rea Park, the clubhouse is slated for restoration starting this fall, with Friends of Rea Park already raising about $700,000 toward that restoration.

Other updates

• The bidding of a railroad overpass at 13th Street and 8th Avenue, which had been slated for July, has been pushed to July 2024, as the project is waiting on an environmental approval from the U.S. EPA. Once bid in 2024, all utilities will have to be relocated prior to construction starting in 2025. The Indiana Department of Transportation is in charge of that project.
• An intersection improvement at 13th Street and Wabash Avenue is in a final design. Also, a project to improve Margaret Avenue from Third Street to Prairieton Road is in final design.
• All city street lights to be converted to LED lighting this year through a contract with Duke Energy.
• The city is hoping to extend its federally mandated combined sewer overflow project over 30 years, instead of 20 years. The city this year will bid work on a new main sewer lift station, estimated at abut $65 million, the mayor said.

Sewer rates “will have to go up at some point,” the mayor said. “We are mandated to do this stuff. We are required to spend 2% of our household income here on stormwater, wastewater projects under federal law.”

Other updates

• Terre Haute Regional Airport has a more than $273 million impact on the county’s economy, according to a 2022 Indiana Department of Transportation study.
• Churchill Down’s Queen of Terre Haute Casino Resort is expected to generate $10 million to the community, with $5 million to the city. The casino is slated to open in March 2024.
• The city has spent $4,644,475 of $35,936,890 from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, of 2021.

Appropriation for the remainder of the funds are to go to the City Council in April/ May for projects in housing, public safety, stormwater, parks, small business assistance, child care, food deserts, tourism/quality of life, and not-for- profit project support.

“We are just ready to explode here. It has taken a lot of work to get here, not just me,” Bennett said, but also by the Terre Haute City Council, Vigo County Commissioners, the Chamber of Commerce and private business.

“It is all collectively as we have positioned ourselves with our planning, and accomplishments of those things. Now we have funds available to us through ARPA, READI, and the [Queen of Terre Haute] casino, so we will be able to invest in the community in a way we have never been able to do before and I would love to be able to continue that momentum,” the mayor said.
© 2025 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.