Workers put the finishing touches on Interstate 69 as it crosses Clear Creek southwest of Bloomington. The 27-mile stretch of I-69 between Bloomington and U.S. 231 near Crane is expected to open Wednesday afternoon. David Snodgress | Herald-Times
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I-69, Evansville to Indianapolis timeline
July 16, 2008
Groundbreaking for Section 1 (13 miles from Evansville to Oakland City).
Sept. 29, 2009
First two miles of the new Interstate 69 opens between Interstate 64 and Indiana 68.
April 30, 2010
Route for Section 2 (29 miles from Oakland City to Washington) approved by federal government; work on section began later that year.
July 21, 2010
Groundbreaking on Section 3 (25 miles from U.S. 50 to U.S. 231).
April 17, 2012
Groundbreaking on Section 4 (27 miles from Crane to Bloomington).
Nov. 19, 2012
Sections 1-3 fully opened between Evansville and Crane.
November 2014
INDOT crews replace Interstate 164 signs on the east side of Vanderburgh County with I-69 signs, assimilating the 20-mile spur.
April 29, 2015
Groundbreaking on Section 5 (21 miles from Bloomington to Martinsville).
Dec. 9, 2015
Section 4 of Interstate 69 (Crane to Bloomington) scheduled to open to the public.
Source: Evansville Courier & Press
Hoosier basketball fans in the Evansville area should be able to take Interstate 69 all the way to Bloomington to watch Wednesday night’s game.
“We didn’t plan it that way,” said Will Wingfield, Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman. “It just happened.”
The original plan was for Section 4 of I-69 to be open to the public a year ago. Instead, inclement weather and the rebidding of the contract for one the section’s most challenging segments put the project behind schedule and over budget.
Now, though, the state department of transportation is finally ready to open the 27-mile stretch of highway to the public. Gov. Mike Pence is one of several guests expected for an opening celebration set to begin with an 11 a.m. reception Wednesday at the WestGate Academy in the industrial complex adjacent to Naval Support Activity Crane on the south end of the section. An 11:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned, and law enforcement will then escort attendees on a drive up the new section of the interstate.
The road should be open to the public later Wednesday, some time after the celebration, Wingfield said. The state department of transportation will work with Section 4 contractors and the Indiana State Police to remove barriers to the new section of highway at roughly the same time. The hope is to get those barriers out of the way early enough for people who work at Crane and live in the Bloomington area to use I-69 for their commute home, Wingfield said. That should also be early enough for Hoosier basketball fans in southwestern Indiana to use the highway to get to Assembly Hall for the 7 p.m. matchup with Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
For the past three years, fans in Evansville could drive 67 miles on I-69 toward Bloomington, but had to get off at U.S. 231 in Greene County. Once Section 4 opens, they’ll be able to continue driving at 70 mph on the four-lane, limited-access highway all the way to the Ind. 37 interchange in Monroe County. They might want to stop and go to the bathroom first, however, because there aren’t too many places to exit the highway in between.
From exit 87 at U.S. 231, it’s another 11 miles to exit 98 at Ind. 45. The next exit after that is the dog bone roundabout at exit 104 to Ind. 445 in Greene County. If they miss that exit, they’ll have to drive all the way to Bloomington for another chance to get off. Wingfield said that is the result of an environmental agreement to limit development in the rural area.
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