Idea for truck route is off course

To the editor:
I’m responding to Mr. Randy Fisher’s recent letter regarding diverting trucks from downtown.
The right-hand turn from Water Street onto Meridian Street to head north is a difficult turn for trucks, but it seems as though this has been thought out before as the most sensible and safest route for truckers, whether they are going to remain on Indiana 26 or travel on U.S. 27 or Indiana 67. 
Mr. Fisher is suggesting that trucks continue west on Water Street and then Tyson Road on out to Indiana 67. There would be a need to add a stop light there for the traffic, as well as much road construction in order to handle the heavy truck traffic.
These would come as a large cost to the county or state to do this work, as well as a lot of studies and planning, which would add even more costs to this change. Anything short of that could lead to a very hazardous situation on Indiana 67.
Removing the stop signs from Water Street seems like a very dangerous thing to consider. There would be a lot of trucks speeding down Water Street going either direction. Water Street has families with children and this does not sound like a very safe thing to be considering. 
The ideal solution for Mr. Randy Fisher seems to be building a bypass around Portland. I think this is a pipe dream for a town the size of Portland, but that would make more sense than making Water Street a thruway for speeding semis.
A huge drawback for that idea is buying all the needed farmland to make such a bypass, which would be very costly to the tax payer, if not prohibitive.
Daniel E. Chase
Portland