GIBSON COUNTY — Work on the stretch of the Interstate 69 between Evansville and Crane could be completed and the road open to traffic as early as mid-November, officials with the Indiana Department of Transportationsaid Wednesday.
The sections from Evansville to the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center — 67 miles of a 142-mile project that will eventually run from Evansville to Indianapolis — are in various stages of construction. But transportation officials said construction has been going quickly and can continue to do so if the weather remains dry.
"We plan on being done by mid-November," said Brian Malone, project manager. "Everyone is committed to that, and I see no way (it wouldn't be done) unless it starts raining every day. Weather is going to be the only hold. These guys are getting things done."
The first three sections of the interstate project vary in stages of completion from putting up guardrails to a nearly completed stretch of highway, to different phases of paving asphalt and creating shoulders.
Two miles of the first part of section are already open to traffic. An INDOT tour for media Wednesday — largely in Gibson County — featured a piece of the interstate from the State Road 68 interchange — that is mostly complete — to the 4,400 ft. long bridge spanning the Patoka River that is waiting for concrete to be poured.
The project, said INDOT spokeswoman Cher Elliott, said is on schedule, running well and under early-anticipated budget. Competition for contract bids, she said, helped drive the price down.
The anticipated value of the project sat at about $700 million.
"Through the bidding process, the dollar value was less than $600 million," she said.
The interstate has already seen some outside traffic aside from contractors and construction workers.
During last week's severe storm in Oakland City emergency personnel used a stretch of I-69 near what will be the State Road 64 interchange to get into the city.
INDOT has also taken up more than 1,400 acres on the first three sections, that has been previously forested property, a wetland area or other natural or environmentally significant area, and has recreated or replanted those areas around the interstate.
"We have 124 acres of mitigation sites," said Dave Goffinet, a member of the INDOT communications team Wednesday. "Portions of it are previously forested property along the Patoka River. Which is a very tremendous habitat area. It supports bat populations, various other waterfowl, birds, and so forth. We also have 55 acres of this property has been planted with trees, and they're growing decently."
As for farm land, Goffinet said, it is unfortunately another impact that they cannot replace. They can offer fair market value for the property and if the farmer chooses to, can acquire more property to continue farming, he said.
The full interstate project is divided into six sections. Sections one through three are under way, and section four — from Crane to Bloomington, at 27 miles — has three of six contracts awarded and is set to open at the end of 2014. As for section five of the I-69 project — Bloomington to Martinsville — the state is working on plans for the stretch that will run along the current route of State Road 37. Elliott said Martinsville to Indianapolis is in "very early design and information stages."