Intersection of I-69 section 4 with Ind. 37 at the southwestern edge of Bloomington. The Indiana Department of Transportation says the fourth section of the I-69 extension from Crane to Bloomington is still on track to open by the end of this year and the fifth section from Bloomington to Martinsville should be completed by Nov., 2016. Jason Clark | Evansville Courier & Press
In her keynote speech, Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson said Section 4 of Interstate 69 would be completed at the end of the year, but with less than two months left in 2015, no date has been set for when the newly constructed highway will be open to the public.
After Hendrickson's speech at Thursday's I-69 Regional Summit at the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center, Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Will Wingfield said virtually all travel lanes of Section 4 have been paved. However, shoulder work still needs to be done as well as lane striping, guardrail placement, sign posting and some lighting. Wingfield said the Department of Transportation is working with contractors to set a specific date.
"It's day to day based on weather," he said. "Once we have confidence about the date, we'll start to get an advance notice out."
Section 4 of I-69 is the 27-mile stretch of highway from Naval Surface Activity Crane to Bloomington. It was originally set to be open at the end of 2014, but periods of extremely cold weather, an exceptionally wet spring and the rebidding of a contract for one of section's most challenging segments, delayed its completion. When it finally is open, the four-lane highway will connect the state's third-largest city (Evansville) to its largest (Indianapolis) by way of Bloomington.
Sections 1-3, which connected Evansville to Crane, opened to traffic Nov. 19, 2012. Section 5, the 21-mile stretch from Bloomington to Martinsville, is under construction, but it follows the path of existing Ind. 37, which runs all the way to Indianapolis.
The exact route of Section 6, which goes from Martinsville to Indianapolis, hasn't been determined, but Hendrickson said the draft of the Environmental Impact Study, which is required by the federal government for large infrastructure projects, should be completed by 2017. She expected the final Environmental Impact Study and Record of Decision to be finished by 2018. No source of funding has been identified for Section 6, but Wingfield said the Environmental Impact Study will help to more specifically determine the scope of the project. That will help the Department of Transportation determine possible funding sources.
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