New I-69 extension opens after years of construction

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - It's been years in the making. Monday, another stretch of the new I-69 Extension opened from Evansville to Crane, about 20 miles southwest of Bloomington.

It is part of the legacy Governor Daniels hopes to leave when he leaves office next year.

Now work begins on the next section that snakes through Bloomington, Martinsville, and eventually Indianapolis. Work on the southernmost point of the project started back in July of 2008.

Monday, Governor Daniels was on his motorcycle to lead a parade along the new 67-mile stretch.   He says this interstate is about more than commerce but making a safer drive for Hoosiers.

“A lot of lives have been lost; a lot of heartache has been caused by people trying to get between places in the absence of this road. Forty-thousand incidents will be prevented because of this over the next couple decades alone.”But not all celebrated with Governor Daniels.

Tim Maloney is the Senior Policy Director with the Hoosier Environmental Council.

He and members of the council have opposed the project from the start. They plan to fight the upcoming extensions.

“It's a mistake, and a mistake that should be acknowledged,” Tim Maloney said.

Maloney says the continued expansion will destroy hardwood forest, caves, springs and invaluable wildlife habitats.

“They are building on the most environmentally damaging route that could’ve ever been chosen from Evansville to Indianapolis,” Maloney said.

Maloney says the coalition has an alternative route that is 13 minutes longer than the INDOT’s proposal. Maloney says their route would require drivers to pass through Terre Haute.

For now, many of the people making decisions about the future of I-69 haven't been sworn in.

And INDOT still needs to find money for the new construction, and approval from the federal highway administration.