Waste not, want not... the 2006 Highway bill

[southsider2k5]

I kinda figured this was coming. Looks like the I-69 proposal is in there for at least INs portion. It will cost an estimated $1.8 billion to go from Indy to Evansville.

 

This article was in today's Michigan City paper about resistance to the project.

 

Group suggests alternative to proposed I-69 extension 

 

By Amanda Haverstick, The News-Dispatch

 

An environmental group would like the public to take note of a proposal on Indiana's wish list -the possible extension of I-69.

 

The state, said Hoosier Environmental Council Executive Director Tim Maloney, has proposed to extend I-69 from Indianapolis to Evansville, and a big portion of it will be built where there currently is no road.

 

"(It's) mostly a whole new road. They do say they would largely follow State Road 37 from Indianapolis to Bloomington," Maloney said.

 

While the location of the proposed highway is in the southwest chunk of the state, Northwest Indiana and the rest of the state may feel the repercussions when it comes time to getting their own roads fixed.

 

"Anyone in Indiana should be concerned about a public works project that has so much environmental damage and is so costly to the tax payer when there is a cheaper and less damaging route available," Maloney said.

 

Extending I-69 would disturb thousands of acres of farmland, forests and wetlands.

 

The proposal also comes with a $1.8 billion price tag. The Hoosier Environmental Council believes that figure will look more like $3 billion after I-69's extension from I-64 to Henderson, Ky., over the Ohio River is added in.

 

Maloney said any community in Indiana that has road construction and maintenance needs should be concerned about the state's proposal.

 

"(It) will most likely come at the expense of other road projects all around Indiana," Maloney said.

 

Such a project, Maloney said, hampers other highway maintenance like fixing pot holes, paving roads and improving bridges and interchanges.

 

"Those are all important transportation components we're ignoring at the expense of building these gold-plated highway projects when we don't need to do it," Maloney said.

 

The Hoosier Environmental Council proposes creating an alternate route of I-70 to Terre Haute and then down U.S. 41 to Evansville. The route would cost half as much at $900 million.

 

"All you would be doing is upgrading U.S. 41 to interstate standards," Maloney said. "It would be less damaging to the environment and about half as costly. The time difference is very minimal compared to the cost and damage."

 

However, that alternative, Maloney said, was discarded by the state.

 

The state, he said, has completed an environmental impact statement and has the support of the Federal Highway Administration to build the route.

 

The idea has been around since the late 80s and early 90s when it was considered as a new international NAFTA highway from Canada to Mexico. Maloney said earlier studies found it was not a valuable project from a cost benefit standpoint.

 

"Even the new version doesn't pass (a cost benefit analysis), although the state doesn't talk much about that," Maloney said. "The cost issue is a big stumbling block for the state because they still don't know how to pay for it."

 

If built in the proposed location, the highway will impact more than 5,000 acres of farmland, 1,600 acres of forest and 140 acres of wetland, Maloney said.

 

"Clearly, you're talking about some significant impacts to some of the best farmland in the Midwest," Maloney said.

 

The area also is thick with caves, sinkholes and springs.

 

"Where you leave Bloomington, you're crossing a very rugged forested terrain as well as being a terrain underlying with cave and sinkhole systems," Maloney said. "Those are very sensitive systems both from the way their water flows to the unusual aquatic life and terrestrial life that lives in caves."

 

The route also would cross the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge - home to Bald Eagles, bobcats and the endangered Indiana bat.

 

 

 

Contact reporter Amanda Haverstick at [email protected].