By JENNIFER WHITSON

Evansville Courier & Press Indianapolis bureau

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Supporters of an Interstate 69 route that would go through Terre Haute turned out in force Monday night in the first of three public hearings on a state study that highlighted five preferred I-69 routes.

The crowd of roughly 220 was at times rowdy, at times quiet, but consistently in favor of the U.S.41/I-70 route.

At the end of July, the Indiana Department of Transportation released the draft environmental impact statement on 12 potential I-69 routes to connect Evansville and Indianapolis. The study listed five routes, not including the Terre Haute route, as preferred.

To open the meeting, transportation officials gave an overview of the study that was briefly interrupted when a woman in the audience held up a yellow poster board sign which read "Save our farms."

About nine transportation officials and local police swooped in to remind the woman of the department's policy that no signs or props can be used during public comment hearings.

"I have a First Amendment right to have this sign," yelled Cathy Crosson, an Indiana University law professor.

"Leave her alone," some in the crowd yelled.

After about a seven-minute pause, Michael Grovach, an engineer with the consulting firm hired by the state to do the study, continued his presentation and the woman was left alone, still in possession of her sign.

After transportation officials explained the study results and the process that will narrow all the routes down to one by the end of this year, it was the public's turn to speak.

Transportation officials set up a three-foot stoplight prop to remind speakers to stay within a two-minute limit. And of the 20 speakers who took the podium in the first half of the hearing, all spoke in favor of a U.S. 41/I-70 route.

The lower cost of the U.S.41/I-70 route was a common theme. Its cost range is between $810 million and $1 billion, $600 million less than the costliest preferred route.

"They talk about millions or billions," said Turk Roman, Vigo County Council president. "It is still a lot of money. And it's still you, me, all of us paying for that."

Some in the crowd also said the study didn't take environmental concerns seriously enough.

"This is an environmental study that doesn't care about the environment," said David C. Hurst, executive director of the Vigo County taxpayers association.

The study found that the Terre Haute route would least affect endangered species and wetlands, but the route was not preferred because it did not score well in other areas, such as travel time, increased accessibility for rural areas and compatibility with the national I-69 route.

Other speakers said they were afraid a "new terrain" highway would destroy farmland and their rural way of life.

"If you go out and buy a farm in the middle of Indiana, you're looking for a rural life, not to have your kids working at Wal-Mart or Taco Bell," said Sean Connelly, a Bloomington stay-at-home father. "You are not looking for a highway close by."

A Daviess County farming couple drove up to testify.

"Super four-lane highways are not a necessity, but food is," said Jim Gillooly of Washington.

His wife, Jane Gillooly, compared the I-69 route debate to a long bout with the West Nile virus.

"It's nauseating, it's given me a headache and it's caused by pests trying to overtake my back yard," she said.

And most of all, U.S.41/I-70 proponents expressed frustration.

"At least we've had luck getting one governor to listen to us," said G. Roderick Henry, president of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce.

"Gov. Paul Patton listened to us. Kentucky will be using existing highways to build their I-69 corridor."

"I'm mad and I'm frustrated because I know the next couple of years of my life will be spent fighting this," said Connelly.

Other communities will also get their chance to weigh in. The department of transportation will be holding a hearing today in Bloomington and Wednesday evening in Evansville.

© 2001 The E.W. Scripps Co.