Even though Interstate 69 from Evansville to Crane will be completed by the end of this year, opponents of the highway project are still looking for ways to stop the construction and if you can believe it, some still want the route to be shifted over to U.S.41/I-70 via Terre Haute.
The latter route was rejected years ago by then Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon, who chose the direct route to Indianapolis via Bloomington as the best route. Of course, construction of the direct route is moving along.
As Courier & Press staff writer Eric Bradner reminded readers on Sunday, motorists are driving already on a short stretch just north of Evansville, with construction expected to be completed on links to Oakland City, Petersburg, Washington and Crane by the time Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels leaves office at the end of this year. The segment from Crane to Bloomington is expected to be opened sometime during 2014.
It was Daniels who created the Major Moves initiative, leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a private concern for $3.8 billion. Money from that was used for the Evansville to Crane segments of the highway, and for numerous other highway and bridge projects around the state during Daniels' tenure.
It will be left up to the next governor, either Republican Mike Pence or Democrat John Gregg, to determine how to pay for the final two segments from Bloomington to Indianapolis.
Opponents insist the uncertainty of that funding is cause enough to stop the project dead in the water.
We agree it is a fair question, but it would be beyond foolishness to abandon the construction and paving work done thus far.In Bradner's report, he quoted Monroe County (Bloomington) Commissioner Mark Stoops, who is party to a suit to stop the construction, as saying the state used old emissions data when drafting environmental impact statements for the first four sections.
He said that now appears the best way to stop the highway in court. He added that it would be difficult to stop the section from Bloomington to Martinsville, because that would mean the completed segments would end on the southwest side of Bloomington, dumping interstate traffic out onto a local road. That's just not realistic.
Meanwhile, the Bloomington Herald-Times reported at a meeting earler this month between a group of about 10 Monroe County residents and the Department of Natural Resources Division of Water, all said they collectively support using the alternative U.S.41 and I-70 route.As we said, that's not realistic, even in Bloomington.