## Facts

- John M. Dunn owned and operated a hotel property in Evansville, Indiana, with access to Green River Road via a service road built after earlier highway construction eliminated direct entrances.
- In 2004, the State, acting through the Indiana Department of Transportation and pursuant to statutory authority, installed a concrete median on Green River Road near the interchange with State Road 66.
- The median prevented southbound traffic from making a left turn into the service road entrance serving Dunn’s property.
- The service road and property remained physically accessible, but southbound drivers had to take a longer, more circuitous route to reach the hotel.
- Dunn alleged the median substantially impaired access, reduced hotel business, and diminished property value, constituting a taking without just compensation under Article I, § 21 of the Indiana Constitution.

## Issues

1. Whether construction of a median that eliminates a direct left turn and makes access to a business property more circuitous constitutes a compensable taking under Article I, § 21 of the Indiana Constitution.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Indiana reversed the trial court’s partial summary judgment for Dunn and vacated the jury’s damages award.
- The court held that the median’s effect of making travel to the property more circuitous did not amount to a compensable taking.
- Because no taking occurred, Dunn was not entitled to inverse-condemnation damages for business losses or diminished property value attributed to altered traffic movements.

## Legal Principles

- A landowner has no compensable property right in the free or unrestricted flow or volume of traffic past the property.
- A compensable taking based on access requires substantial or material interference with reasonable ingress and egress; mere inconvenience or a more circuitous route is insufficient.
- Economic losses attributable to traffic-pattern changes from lawful roadway design and safety measures are generally non-compensable when reasonable physical access remains available.
- Roadway design actions taken under the State’s highway authority and police power do not require compensation absent a recognized taking of property rights.

## Conclusion

The court held that a median preventing a direct turn and requiring a longer route to reach a business property is a non-compensable traffic-flow impact, not a constitutional taking, so inverse-condemnation recovery was unavailable where reasonable access remained.


State v. Dunn, 888 N.E.2d 858 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008)