The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a final rule moving five southwest Indiana counties — Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin and Pike — from the Central time zone to Eastern, as they jointly had requested. Those counties will observe Eastern time beginning Nov. 4, when daylight-saving time ends.
At the same time, the DOT denied a separate petition from Perry County, Ind., to move from Central to Eastern as well.
People in the five counties moving to Eastern time will not need to change their clocks Nov. 4. Vincennes in Knox County, Washington in Daviess County, Jasper in Dubois County, Shoals in Martin County and Petersburg in Pike County are a few cities to be affected. Truck routes affected include U.S. 41, U.S. 50, U.S. 150 and U.S. 231.
These six counties were among 17 Indiana counties that petitioned DOT in 2005 to switch from Eastern to Central time. In January 2006, the Department allowed eight of the petitioning counties, including the six involved in the Sept. 21 decision, to move to Central time beginning in April 2006. The six counties later asked to be moved back to Eastern time.
Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, the U.S. secretary of transportation has the authority to set time-zone boundaries and must base decisions on the “convenience of commerce.”
The DOT’s decision follows a review of more than 3,500 public comments filed in response to the counties’ petitions.
The final rule, proposed rule, county petitions, comments and other documents in this case are online at http://dms.dot.gov, docket OST-2007-28746.
