An Indiana Department of Transportation representative said Monday that the department couldn’t say any particular route is the most likely path that the construction of Interstate 69 will take when it heads north of Liberty Church Road.
Kevin Hetrick, co-manager of the Section 6 segment of I-69 link to Indianapolis, and Will Wingfield, an INDOT spokesman, outlined the process and answered questions from reporters regarding public meetings Monday and Wednesday on the interstate.
The Wednesday meeting will be at Martinsville High School, 1360 E. Gray St. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with an open house session, followed by a formal presentation and public comment session in the high-school auditorium at 6:30 p.m.
In January at a Greater Martinsville Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Sarah E. Rubin, INDOT Section 6 project co-manager, said that it is no longer certain that I-69 will follow the path through Martinsville of what is now Ind. 37.
Although maps on display still indicate Ind. 37 as the probable route for I-69, that isn’t necessarily the case, the INDOT representatives said again on Monday.
Wingfield said, “I can’t handicap any route. I can’t say it would be 37.”
The studies conducted in 2004 determine I-69 as the route. For approximately a decade, Morgan County residents and elected officials have generally been working with information that stated I-69 would replace Ind. 37 as it is built through Martinsville. Maps issued by the state have shown Ind. 37 being the corridor that the interstate follows through Martinsville to connect to Interstate 465.
“If there are changes or increased impact since 2004, we may consider other corridors,” Wingfield said Monday.
Federal law requires the state to look at alternatives, Winfield said. While there are no other specific ideas, he said, other possibilities could include Interstate 65 on the east and an Interstate 70 connection on the west.
Funding for Section 6 hasn’t been established yet, but it hadn’t been for sections 4 and 5 when they were at a similar stage, Wingfield said. Until the environmental studies are completed, there can be on federal assistance.
The schedule includes public information meetings in this quarter, the second and fourth quarters this year. The draft environmental impact statement is due by the first quarter of 2017 and hearing on that statement in the second quarter of 2017.
The final environmental impact statement and record of decision is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018. A date construction would start hasn’t been set.
It is too early to determine what would happen if Ind. 37 isn’t the route for 69 to properties along Ind. 37 purchased by INDOT after the June 2008 floods in Morgan County, Wingfield said. The acquisition was a protective measure designed to prevent it from being used for other purposes. The state has surplus properties and in the past the state has sold some of those properties.