By Dan Shaw, Evansville Courier & Press
Having a new section of Interstate 69 built by 2012 is "a very aggressive goal," the man in charge of the project acknowledged Thursday, a day after Gov. Mitch Daniels pledged to have a 68-mile stretch of the road completed by the time he leaves office.
Samuel Sarvis, INDOT deputy commissioner for major programs, met with Courier & Press editors Thursday to explain how the state will build the section from Evansville to Crane three years ahead of an earlier schedule and for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than INDOT's most recent cost estimates.
Though aware of his heavy responsibility, Sarvis said he wouldn't be leading the project if he thought the governor's goals were unrealistic. Still, many obstacles stand between crews laying pavement for the second and third sections of the road.
Chief among those is buying the land for the highway right of way. INDOT isn't ready to make offers, Sarvis said.
Before INDOT can know whose property it needs to acquire, it must have designs detailing the path of the road.
To move toward that goal, the state wants to hire a consulting firm soon and charge it with drawing up the needed plans. Sarvis said INDOT is in negotiations with a company, and a contract should be signed within 30 days.
When the route is mapped, property owners along it can expect visits from appraisers. Sarvis said the state will approach them with tact.
"We want to treat people with the utmost respect," he said. "We are going to build this road, but we are building it for all Hoosiers. And we want to treat them well in the process."
Also needed before the construction can proceed are a number of permits. Getting them will entail dealing with other government agencies such as the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Department of Natural Resources.
Progress has been made on that front in at least one respect, Sarvis said. INDOT has bought the land it will need to mitigate the environmental impact of the road.
The state will use that property to replace the many trees and wetlands lost to the construction. Sarvis said the state has bought three times as much land as will be affected by the I-69 construction, going beyond the federal government's mandates.
Recognizing the difficulties ahead of him, Sarvis said he has several reasons for optimism. Chief among those is the state's possession of the needed money. The $700 million set aside for the new stretch of I-69 is coming from the $3.8 billion raised by leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium.
Then there are construction practices the state hopes will cut the time of the project. INDOT will hire the same firm to both design and build certain segments of I-69, starting work when the designs are only 30 percent complete in some cases.
Other measures will be used to lower the cost. They include putting down a thinner layer of pavement at first. More will be added after the road connects to Indianapolis and begins to carry heavier trucks.
Also undecided is whether I-69 will be made of concrete or asphalt. The preference likely will go to the cheaper material.
Looking beyond the immediate task, Sarvis said he isn't worried that current plans don't explain how the state will pay for taking the road all the way to Indianapolis. Despite the apparent lack of money, INDOT hopes to have a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a fourth section, running just north of Oakland City, drawn up by spring 2010.
With the proper political support, Sarvis sees no cause for concern.
"I would say transportation is less about having the money than about having the priority," he said.