By Eric Bradner, Evansville Courier & Press
PETERSBURG, Ind. - It's an unsightly scene, the coal trucks lined up one after another, roaring and sputtering through the downtown streets of this Southwestern Indiana city.
But in the heart of coal country, it's reality, says Mayor Jon Craig. State Road 57, which cuts directly through Petersburg, is the only path to two power plants nearby.
Politicians, coal executives and local residents say they'd like to cut down on traffic that currently has hundreds of coal-hauling trucks passing through Petersburg every day.
The best way to achieve that goal is clear. As Interstate 69 is extended from Indianapolis to Evansville, initial plans called for an interchange to be placed nearby. Such an interchange would give trucks a more direct route to the power plants and would allow them to bypass the downtown area.
However, with costs rising and state officials looking for ways to save, that interchange is on the chopping block, potentially one of the two in the area that could be postponed or cut out entirely.
Local politicians are battling to spare the interchange, and as a result, Petersburg residents are poised to watch firsthand an early test of whether I-69's massive 142-mile extension through Southwestern Indiana can live up to promises of convenience and economic development opportunities.
"Unless that interchange is built, we will be stuck with nothing left in Petersburg except the coal trucks," Craig said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, so it needs to be done right the first time."
Earlier this year, the Indiana Department of Transportation released draft environmental impact statements that pegged the cost of extending I-69 from Indianapolis to Evansville at $3.1 billion - well above the $1.77 billion price tag projected in 2003.
Though INDOT officials say those estimates - their own estimates - are too high, they also are considering cost-cutting measures to get as far as possible on the $700 million already set aside for I-69 construction costs.
That could include narrowing the medians and postponing or possibly eliminating two interchanges - one at Pike County Road 600 North and the other at Daviess County Road 375 South.
INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said those interchanges are being considered for elimination because they have less traffic than others proposed along the route.
"We don't have a definitive plan for those interchanges at this point," he said, emphasizing that they would only be postponed, not canceled outright.
"If they were to be deferred, they would be built sometime in the future, once traffic volumes justify that project."
Without an interchange here, I-69 loses some of the economic development opportunities promised by it, and therefore becomes less desirable - less a potential moneymaker, more a roaring highway that would slice through farmland and forests with little to offer in exchange for its intrusion.
"One of the strongest selling points of I-69 was the economic development we can achieve from it," said state Rep. Kreg Battles, a Democrat whose district includes the planned Petersburg interchange. "But if you don't have exits and you can't get off, you start watering down the greatest benefits we get out of this."
Stretching $700 million
Gov. Mitch Daniels and INDOT maintain that they can build I-69 from the project's starting point, where I-64 meets I-164 just north of Evansville, to the Crane warfare center with $700 million already set aside.
That money would cover construction, while INDOT also would pay for right-of-way acquisition, engineering and other costs. Building the highway through Crane would complete the first three of the extension's six segments.
However, environmental impact statements project that construction alone would cost at least $820 million for those three sections - an indication that money might dry up before I-69 reaches Crane.
State officials now say their own draft environmental impact statement estimates were too high and that the cost will fall short of $3.1 billion. Wingfield explained the discrepancy by saying it's nearly impossible to accurately predict construction costs, and that the draft statements are just that - drafts.
He said the first I-69 contract, which went to Clarksville-based Gohmann Asphalt and Construction, was awarded for $25.2 million, much less than the $41.8 million INDOT had projected.
The second contract, awarded to Bloomington's Weddle Brothers Highway Group, went for $13.5 million, well below INDOT's $20.6 million estimate.
The recession has left contractors starved for work, driving construction costs down below estimates. Thus, the sooner the state is able to build the I-69 extension, the lower the price. The longer the state waits, the higher inflation and construction costs could rise, and the more the extension could cost.
Wingfield said for two of the three sections southwest of Crane, final environmental impact statements due in the coming months could clarify how the state sees the costs changing.
Still, INDOT has acknowledged the need to save where it can. That means narrowing medians, building with the least expensive materials possible and perhaps cutting the two interchanges.
State and federal lawmakers are calling on INDOT to save at least the Pike County interchange.
"While I appreciate the state's efforts to keep costs for I-69 under control, I believe eliminating these interchanges would unfairly penalize communities in Southwest Indiana," said Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Evansville. "Taxpayers all along the I-69 corridor are providing funding and land to make this project a success, and they deserve to share in the economic benefits of their investment."
Meanwhile, rising costs have led to complaints that the new-terrain I-69 route would be expensive and environmentally unkind. However, with political winds strongly behind the I-69 extension, persuading state lawmakers and the Daniels administration to change course at this stage would be a tough task.
No matter how far $700 million goes, one question still is unanswered. After that money runs out, what's next?
Paying for I-69
Though the state is making plans for the Crane-to-Indianapolis section, there is no funding in place to pay for that portion.
Wingfield said INDOT assumes it will have to cover those costs out of its own budget, a solution the state has been trying to dodge for years.
The first $700 million came from a deal dubbed Major Moves - the $3.6 billion lease of a northern Indiana toll road to a Spanish-Australian consortium. So far, no one has found a similar creative stroke to cover the second half of the project.
More than two years ago, Daniels proposed the Indiana Commerce Connector, a tollway through central Indiana. The tolls would help pay for I-69. However, that proposal failed in the General Assembly.
Some state lawmakers initially griped that INDOT wasn't spending any of its $440 million in American Relief and Recovery Act money on I-69.
State officials said that was never an option, because federal stimulus dollars had to go to shovel-ready projects where planning already was complete and work could begin almost immediately.
Battles said the state could use bonds and take the traditional approach, even though I-69 would come at a much higher cost than most roadway projects. Or, he said, the state could tap into more Major Moves funds.
Indiana also is in the running for federal grant money. The state applied for $195 million, of which $125 million would be used for the first section of the extension, from Evansville to Oakland City. That would enable INDOT to save some of the $700 million already designated for I-69 to use on later sections.
The best hope could be some federal lawmakers' efforts to have funding for I-69 included in a federal highway bill that would lay out spending for 2010 through 2015.
Ellsworth's office is seeking a $1.16 billion federal earmark to help Indiana foot the bill through 2015, said his spokeswoman, Liz Farrar.
However, it appears that Indiana will have to wait awhile to find out whether it will see any of that money.
Farrar said that while Ellsworth is hopeful, indications are that Congress will extend the current transportation spending bill for another 18 months, rather than passing a rewrite that could include projects such as I-69.
She said because the federal stimulus package included billions in transportation spending, members of Congress are hesitant to dole out more dollars for roadway projects so quickly.
Farrar said I-69's designation as one of the nation's "corridors of the future" will provide a strong boost to the argument that the project is worthy of federal funding.
"The hope is of course that we'll be able to have the federal government work with the state, providing a source of funding from the federal government as well," Farrar said. "The fact that it's a corridor of the future is a huge step in that direction, because it's an acknowledgment from the secretary of transportation that I-69 is important for the future of the country."
Ellsworth said I-69 already has received $800,000 because of its corridor-of-the-future status.
'NAFTA superhighway'
Indiana isn't the only state where I-69 deliberations - and construction - are ongoing.
Federal transportation authorities envision I-69 eventually connecting Canada, the United States and Mexico - the three North American Free Trade Agreement countries. I-69 has even at times taken on the nickname "NAFTA Superhighway." It now extends from the Canadian border near Port Huron, Mich., southwest through Indianapolis.
The 142-mile extension through Evansville is just the start. I-69 eventually could pass through six other states - Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas - before crossing into Mexico near Laredo, Texas.
That means Indiana's role won't end after the Indianapolis-to-Evansville portion is completed. The state also must work with Kentucky on a bridge connecting the Indiana portion with Henderson, Ky., across the Ohio River.
Daniels made appearances in Louisville, Ky., and in Henderson with Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, for a bill-signing ceremony held by Beshear. The two governors were celebrating legislation Kentucky lawmakers passed earlier this year creating a two-state authority to advance plans for Ohio River bridges near Louisville.
In a few years, the Kentucky legislation could lead to talks to connect Evansville and Henderson along the newly extended I-69 route, Daniels said.
"I mean that's certainly the kind of outcome that we're looking for," Daniels said.
Officials in Kentucky agreed. Chuck Wolfe, a spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said that though Louisville bridges are the two-state authority's short-range focus, an Evansville-Henderson bridge is a priority, as well.
Kentucky moving ahead
I-69 planning in Kentucky is slightly behind Indiana, though construction there could move more quickly.
There, I-69 would begin to the north with a bridge crossing into Henderson, followed by about five miles of new-terrain highway. It would link up with parkways that already exist throughout Kentucky, eventually crossing from Fulton, Ky., into Tennessee, near Memphis.
Wolfe said the state has done some initial planning, though more must be done. He said the next step is hiring an engineering consultant to study what changes will be necessary to bring those parkways up to federal highway standards.
Jody Wassmer, president of the Greater Owensboro (Ky.) Chamber of Commerce, said I-69 is critical for Western Kentucky and Southwestern Indiana. Wassmer said studies show that those who live in portions of Kentucky with access to interstate highways have average household incomes of about $31,000, while those who do not have interstate access average about $19,000.
Parkways help, he said, boosting average income to about $26,000.
"It's real clear. In Kentucky, counties that have an interstate running directly through them enjoy a per capita income at least one-third higher than Kentucky counties that have no interstate," Wassmer said.
That's in part because many parts of Western Kentucky often aren't considered for major plants or warehouse distribution facilities because of a lack of interstate access, he said.
Not just a Hoosier highway
Ky. Rep. Ed Whitfield, a Republican, represents a district that includes the entire length of the proposed I-69 extension through Kentucky. He has requested a $644.9 million earmark for the highway. That money could be in the same bill as the $1.16 billion Ellsworth has asked for.
Work is under way in other states. In Tennessee and Arkansas, sections of I-69 now are under construction.
Some portions already are open for traffic, including a 21-mile segment near Memphis. Transportation officials there are considering building part of I-69 as a tollway in hopes of solving that state's funding questions.
Plans are under way in Louisiana and Mississippi. In Texas, where I-69 will cross through Houston before splitting at three border crossings, the project has been added to a statewide planning effort and divided into 15 segments. Officials there are moving toward a completed plan.
"When you read some of the anti-I-69 literature from Indiana, it's almost like folks see this as just an extension of I-69 to Evansville and no further," Wassmer said. "This is not an Indiana highway. This is a highway that's going to run from Michigan to Texas, and is going to have a lot of economic impact."