INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Department of Transportation is trying to find a way around a roadblock a Bloomington group has erected across the proposed route of the Indianapolis-to-Evansville extension of Interstate 69.
Last week the Bloomington/Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is in charge of coordinating local, state and federal road-building projects, excluded I-69 from its annual transportation plan.
The move was unusual, and INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said there is not much precedent for it.
Now, the question is what it means, and how the state can work around it. INDOT officials have asked federal authorities for advice.
"The metropolitan planning organizations were established at a federal level, so in large degree, our options will be defined by the guidance we receive from the Federal Highway Administration," Wingfield said.
The first three sections of the 142-mile, six-section project, are already under construction. They extend the highway from Evansville to the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center.
The fourth section, which is 27 miles and carries an estimated price tag of $400 million, is the portion jeopardized by the Bloomington MPO's move. It's unusual, Wingfield said, because MPOs have historically included already-under way projects in their annual transportation improvement plans.
Bloomington's group did so last year, but voted Friday to strip it out of its updated roads plan this year.
"Our first course of action will be to make sure that the Bloomington MPO understands that this action is not a cooperative planning measure, as the Federal Highway Administration requires," and make sure there is no additional information the state could provide, Wingfield said.