HENDERSON, KY - State highway officials for Indiana and Kentucky said Tuesday assumptions about how a new Interstate 69 bridge is going to be paid for — or the exact route the road will take — are premature at this point.
The two spoke during a panel discussion at a joint meeting of the Rotary clubs of Evansville and Henderson at Ellis Park racetrack. The presentation was part of an effort by BridgeLink, a year-old I-69 advocacy group, to build public support for the highway from Canada to Mexico.
Further studies are being done or are on the drawing board, said Rusty Fowler, the district engineer with the Indiana Department of Transportation who has responsibility for the southwest part of the state. “That’s the first thing we’ve got to find out — how are we going to fund this thing.
“If we don’t follow the rules it jeopardizes federal funding,” he said in response to a question on why design hasn’t already begun. “We want to make sure we get the steps in the right order.”
Building the new bridge with toll revenue has been a popular idea, and one supported by BridgeLink. “We’re pushing for a tolled new interstate to help this move forward,” said Christy Gillenwater, BridgeLink’s moderator of the panel.
But Paul Looney, Kentucky’s assistant state highway engineer with primary responsibility for the I-69 project, said that idea needs careful consideration.
“Tolling could be a primary financing mechanism,” said Looney, who conceded he is “relatively new to the I-69 project.
“But one of the things (the planning study indicated) was that the toll revenue may be inadequate if the existing bridges are left in place, given the diversion of traffic that may occur.”
Henderson and Evansville are “two cities-one community to a large degree,” in that many people cross the river on a regular basis to work, play and shop. “The local connection in having it be toll-free is obviously … a critical element for the day-to-day connectivity of the area.”
But leaving the Twin Bridges toll-free while charging tolls on a new I-69 bridge could pose a “challenge,” he said, in that the toll revenues may not be sufficient to pay off the bonds.
Fowler addressed the route for the highway in response to a question from the audience. For years official maps have shown a route that branches off the Pennyrile Parkway, crosses Kentucky 351 midway between Graham Hill and Zion and crosses U.S. 60 between the city limits and Broadview subdivision. It would cross the Ohio River near the mouth of the Green River.
“It is not definitive,” Fowler said. Environmental studies “will give options and those options will identify the final route. Any assumption anybody makes on where this thing is sitting today is … wishful thinking at this point in time. We have to explore any options that are out there.”
BridgeLink has come up with a more direct route that uses more of the existing U.S. 41 right of way. It also shaves the cost of the new bridge and its approaches from $1.4 billion to somewhere closer to $800 million.
As envisioned by BridgeLink, the bridge would have four lanes instead of six and three interchanges instead of five. “It is affordable when you use some of the tools both states are able to use,” said Steve Schaefer, chief of staff for Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke.
He urged the audience to sign BridgeLink’s petitions and follow it on the BridgeLink Facebook page and at @69BridgeLink on Twitter.
Evan L. Beck, an Evansville real estate broker who is active in the BridgeLink effort, called I-69 “the most critical project in our region’s history.”