If all goes according to plan, Martinsville residents could start seeing major planning work on Interstate 69’s route through the city ramping up within about two years with land purchases and contractor bids beginning in about four years, according to project officials.
Steve Walls of the Indiana Department of Transportation and David Goffinet of Evansville engineering firm Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates Inc. discussed plans for the interstate extension from Indianapolis to Evansville with Greater Martinsville Chamber of Commerce members Friday.
Three sections of the interstate, starting in Evansville and heading northward, are completed, and work is ongoing on Section 4, which will enter into Monroe County from the south. Planning has begun for Section 5, which will reach from Monroe County to just south of Martinsville, and planning for Section 6, from Martinsville to Indianapolis, could begin by fall 2013, Walls and Goffinet said.
“There’s a road coming, and it’s not going to stop until it gets to Indianapolis and ties into I-69 there,” Walls said. “Our goal is that that roadway will be open for your travel in 2014 from (Ind.) 37 in Bloomington to Evansville.”
Walls said INDOT hopes to have a record of decision from the federal highway administration for Section 5 by fall 2013. A record of decision, or ROD, Goffinet said, allows the state to begin purchasing land, letting contracts and begin construction. The federal highway administration is given once the final environmental impact study for the section is completed, which identifies the exact alignment of the interstate. The ROD signifies the agreement of federal funding for the project.
Walls said he couldn’t give a timeline on when Martinsville residents and businesses might begin seeing offers made on their properties.
“It would be unfair to even try to speculate,” he said.
Walls also said it was too soon to know where Martinsville interchanges would be located. A website, www.i69indyevn.org, shows some alternatives, but those plans will be reconsidered before final plans are made, he said.
Going into sections 5 and 6, construction will be along the existing four-lane Ind. 37 for the most part, Walls said, creating additional options for construction process, as well as additional requirements.
“It has to be very strategically maintained so we can maintain traffic on that road,” he said.
State officials plan to bring local leaders in on the project to get their input, Walls said.
“I’m sorry we didn’t have more to talk to you about (before),” he said. “It won’t be so quiet anymore. The opportunities to get on that train are there. Get all the information you can. Look at the failures and successes of all the communities that are in your position.”
The interstate extension has its advantages, Walls said, not the least of which is jobs that likely can be sustained even after each section is finished.
“It’s not all everyone’s against it,” he said. “So many more are for this road. I-69 is a priority in our nation to help stimulate growth. This was the plan of many governors looking at a need and not finding any way to develop it. (Gov.) Mitch Daniels was able to find a way to develop that.”
Walls also gave Chamber members an update on the INDOT project that is reconstructing the Ind. 39 bridge over White River in Martinsville. He said the bridge is on schedule for completion and workers are realigning and updating the Ind. 39/Ind. 67 intersection.