If the typical person were going to do something they knew to be in poor judgement, but for inexplicable reasons chose to move forward with said bad behavior, the psychology of the average humanoid would be to do whatever it took to avoid as much heat as possible. In other words, the weasel keeps his head in the hole cuz he knows he'll get whacked !
There is only one mystery going on with the CHS and the Loop - WHY is the CHS (or arm thereof) motivated to sh*t in their own pudding? All the rest of the behavior is textbook psych 101 !
Might I suggest that the answer lies right under our noses like going to Iraq "for weapons of mass destruction". Maybe the "answer" given is more of a political smokescreen for a bigger troop movement ? Could the DOT want to expand I-70 and have a sweet deal for the CHS if they get off the R-O-W ? Something where they have to create a diversion from the truth in order to pull it off ? Make scapegoats of non-problems as they get their actual business affairs in order?
Obviously, there is no logic to all their finger-pointing and kangaroo courts. Things are not what they are being represented to be. Any fool could see this. But being a hard 2 days' drive away myself, the politics are not as obvious to me as they might be to the man on the ground. What sort of solid, logical reason might the CHS have for messing in their own bed ?