Portion of I-69 project receives final approval on environmental impact

INDIANAPOLIS —Federal and state highway officials have approved final plans for the section of the Interstate 69 extension that will run from the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center to Bloomington.

Three of the six sections of the 142-mile Indianapolis-to-Evansville highway building project are already under construction. This one, the fourth of those six, will leave improvements to Indiana 37 from Bloomington to Indianapolis as a final task.

The state already has the funding on hand to build the fourth section, and construction will begin this year, Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Michael Cline said Monday in a statement announcing federal approval of the plans contained in a document called the final environmental impact statement.

He said the state is on target to have the new highway built from Evansville to Bloomington by the end of 2014. “We are excited to see this vital transportation project moving towards completion,” he said.