The great Interstate 69 standoff in Bloomington has been resolved, not by local planners there coming to their senses, but by a federal transportation official who clarified the rules.
Eric Bradner of the Courier & Press Indianapolis Bureau reported Friday that an official with the Federal Highway Administration has informed the Bloomington/Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization that it cannot block construction of a two-mile stretch of the Evansville-to-Indianapolis highway that will pass through its jurisdiction.
The only catch for the Indiana Department of Transportation which is overseeing construction of the 142-mile highway is that it cannot use federal funds for the two miles. But, as Bradner pointed out, that's hardly a deal-breaker for the highway project, which is expected to cost some $2 billion when completed. The two miles in question are part of the $387 million Crane-to-Bloomington section.
The idea of a north-south interstate highway passing through Bloomington has never sat well there with many in Monroe County. By removing the two-mile stretch of highway from the local transportation plan, officials there held a momentary advantage. Hence, we had the standoff with the state of Indiana threatening to withhold $29.5 million in federal transportation funds for other projects in Monroe County and the local planners showing scant sign of giving in.
A recent report in the Herald-Times newspaper in Bloomington found highway opponents talking of holding out until a new governor takes office next year, and then hoping to convince him to permanently stop construction of I-69 south of Bloomington. They had to be dreaming.
And now INDOT has learned that it no longer has to play games with the Bloomington group, given that the federal government has already approved the Crane-to-Bloomington stretch for construction. The three links that precede it, from Evansville to Crane, are expected to be open to traffic next year. Construction is expected to begin soon on that controversial stretch from Crane to Bloomington.
Meanwhile, in October, two groups, the Hoosier Environmental Council and Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads filed a federal suit against the Army Corps of Engineers over filling in wetlands in Pike and Daviess counties along the highway route. The suit asks that work be halted on the entire project.
Indeed. Even though it has appeared for several years that I-69 would become a reality, and is now under construction, we have warned highway supporters to take nothing for granted, that opponents will fight this highway all the way to Indianapolis, likely with the support of friends in Central Indiana.
Even with Friday's good news, issues related to the highway are far from over.