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For the following reasons, staff finds that Alternative A is an unfavorable option for the reconstruction of US 31: 1.) Proximity of the proposed roadway to a great number of historic sites and structures that contain local cultural and environmental importance, retain local history, and are physical markers of the past; 2.) Threatens historic structures and two cemeteries along Oak Road; 3.) Proximity to Potato Creek State Park; 4.) Possible pavement over RR corridor and inability for reuse of said corridor for rail lines or trails; 5.) New roadway west of the current US 31, which will cause increased development in rural area. The proposed routes B through F follow the same path in St. Joseph County from Tyler Road until just north of the city of Lakeville. These alternatives enter the county via the Penn Central Railroad line and follow the line north on the western boundary of the city of Lakeville. It is possible that for a short distance these proposed paths would employ portions of US 3 l's roadway, yet mainly they would follow the railroad corridor. Near Osborne Road, Alternative F curves to the east and picks up the current US 31 roadbed once again. Further north, routes B through F split off from each other in Centre Township. Where options B through F follow the same roadway, some rated historic structures are in direct danger of destruction. The structures threatened include: 68680 U.S. 31, a 1890 vernacular farmhouse (11078, C/10); the Mary Garrett farmhouse that is a circa 1910 Queen Anne located at 68294 US 31 (11077, S/12); a Queen Anne dating to circa 1910 at 21099 Osborne Road (11044, S/12); and 19290 Osbome Road, a circa 1885 vernacular farmhouse and barn (11043, S/11). Alternatives B through E would affect a less significant vernacular farmhouse dating to 1910 at 20390 New Road (11034, C/10) as well as an outstanding rated structure, the D. F. Bailey barn. Andrew Toth, a South Bend architect, designed this gabled -roof barn in 1940 at 64347 U.S. 31 (11071, 0/13). It is one of the few architect -designed barns in the county. It employed new construction methods (transverse frame) of the period rather than the traditional heavy timber frame system and barn raising techniques. This barn therefore marks a great shift in barn building and social conventions of the area. Community barn raisings had gone out of favor. In their place, the mass-producing society of the 1940s had found quicker building methods that required fewer people. These alternatives are adjacent to fewer concentrations of historic structures than Alternative A in Union Township. They follow a railroad line like Alternative A. In this case, the alternatives follow what was once a line that Penn Central Railroad operated. The railroad filed for bankruptcy less than ten years after its merger with New York Central in 1970. Conrail bought Penn Central's railroad capital and that of other several other railroad companies in 1976 to form the railroad conglomerate. This line may also be the old Terre Haute and Logansport line that can be seen on a railroad map of Indiana dating to possibly 1896." Alternative B Alternative B splits from the other alternatives in Centre Township. Its path curves several times to the west as it reaches US 23 and then connects to the current US 31. To link US 23 and US 31, option B will carve a new path through the county and could adversely affect the following structures and their surrounding properties: 15 From the Library of Congress online library. State Board of Tax Commissioners, "Railroad Map of Indiana;' (Indianapolis, 1896 (?)), American Memory, http://memory.loc.gov.