INDOT urges Bloomington officials to include I-69 in transportation plans

State highway officials are urging local transportation officials to reconsider including Interstate 69 in the local transportation improvement plans, calling the project’s exclusion “disappointing.”

The letter, sent Wednesday, states the Indiana Department of Transportation’s objective is a transportation plan that the local policy board and INDOT can agree upon and the inclusion of I-69 is an integral part of such a plan.

“The (Bloomington/Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s) Policy Board actions were uncooperative and not continuing the previous direction determined with the amendment of I-69 into the TIP in November 2010,” the letter states. “The Policy Board’s unannounced action to remove I-69 and alter the (draft) TIP, without ample notice of such action being provided to the public, contradicts the intent and purpose of public participation and involvement in the planning process.”