The long awaited opening of I-69 from Crane to Bloomington will apparently take place next Wednesday. Area officials are reporting they have begun receiving invitations from the Indiana Department of Transportation that a ceremony to open the latest completed section of the road will be held that day with Governor Mike Pence. The event will begin at the WestGate at Crane Academy at 11 a.m. and then at 11:30 a.m. the ribbon will be cut and a motorcade will run to the SR 37 interchange just south of Bloomington.
"This is wonderful news," said Washington Mayor Joe Wellman. "I can't wait to get on that roadway."
The opening will add another 27 miles of interstate highway to I-69 and for the first time make it so that motorists can drive from Evansville to Indianapolis through Bloomington completely on four-lane roads.
"It is another step that opens Daviess County to a brighter future," said Ron Arnold, executive director of the Daviess County Economic Development Corp.
The first three sections of I-69 running some 67 miles and extending from Evansville to Crane and running through Washington were completed in 2012. The original schedule called for Section 4 (Crane to Bloomington) to open in 2014, but problems with the terrain led the state to move the schedule back one year.
The opening of Section 4 will close off a choke point for traffic that had sent motorists off of the interstate and onto two lane roads for the last two years. "This will create a much better connection from Crane to Bloomington and even from Bloomington to Washington," said Arnold. "We anticipate that a lot of the traffic will now start to shift off of other routes and onto I-69."
"I think we will now see the traffic counts on I-69 increase," added Mayor Wellman. "That is a key item when we talk to some commercial and retail developers about coming to our community."
State officials are still working on the upgrades to SR 37 from Bloomington to Martinsville. Those improvements are expected to be finished next year and will extend the interstate to Martinsville. INDOT is currently holding hearings on a potential final route on the last segment from Martinsville to Indianapolis.
Local leaders though consider the opening of I-69 to Bloomington the real key to kick starting development in southern Indiana.
"The main thing is we can market this as a highway that will get you somewhere," said Arnold and that opens a lot of possibilities for Daviess County and anyone who would want to locate here.
"The closer the construction gets to completion in Indianapolis the more benefit we will get," added Wellman. "I believe that pretty soon Washington will start to see the benefits of I-69 and it will show why this community fought so long and hard for this road."