By Peter Ciancone

Tribune-Star

Terre Haute and Vigo County officials will take their show on the road in the next two weeks to sell other areas of the state on the benefits of updating U.S. 41/Interstate 70 as a route for the proposed Interstate 69.

Their hope is to pack the halls at the next round of public hearings with people emphasizing cost as a major factor in the decision.

Cost was a core goal of the project omitted in a preliminary study commissioned by the Indiana Department of Transportation that rated the route least favorable.

"We're not going to give up," said Rod Henry, executive director of the Greater Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce. "We may be down, but we're not out."

Upgrading U.S. 41/I-70 was listed as a "non-preferred" route by INDOT in a major advance of the study announced last week.

While INDOT Commissioner J. Bryan Nicol said none of the alternatives had been eliminated at this point, none of the other routes rated lower than the one through Terre Haute.

Cost and environmental impact are not among the nine goals the preliminary study describes for the project. U.S. 41/I-70 ranked as the least expensive and least disruptive to the environment.

Henry, Terre Haute Mayor Judy Anderson, the Vigo County commissioners and presidents of the City and County councils will start a campaign of mailings and visits to communities in northern and southeastern Indiana with a simple message:

"They're going to spend $2 billion and you're going to get zip," Anderson said.

The cost difference between U.S. 41/I-70 and the route that measured highest in the study was $900 million.

Squeezing money out of the state's finances at a time of serious budget problems would mean other areas would lose a chance to get their local project built.

"There's no telling what the negative impact will be in other parts of the state," Henry said.

"It's going to come out of their future road money," said Commissioner Bill Bryan. "We need to make sure they are aware of it and the cost."

Henry said it was important that officials in the other parts of the state get motivated about I-69's cost before it was too late.

"In the past, it's been hard to gain any high level of interest in this project in those areas because it isn't in their back yard," Henry said. With the decision on the route looming before the end of the year, they need to make a greater effort to advance the message and get as many voices as possible telling INDOT to place cost as a higher concern.

Anderson, Bryan and Henry urged local residents to come to the public meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 19 in Terre Haute South Vigo High School, 3737 S. Seventh St. Comments also can be made through a 24-hour hotline: 1-877-463-9386, and e-mail through their Web site: www.i69indyevn.org or mailed to: Mike Grovak, project manager, Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates, 6200 Vogel Road, Evansville, IN 47715.

Copyright 2002 Tribune Star