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By Shannon Hall of the Courier and Press

Interstate 69's Section 4 will open next week to Bloomington, according to the mayors of Huntingburg and Evansville.

Huntingburg Mayor Denny Spinner said he received information from the Indiana Department of Transportation about a ribbon cutting for the section on Dec. 9.

Mayor Lloyd Winnecke received an invitation to an opening as well, according to his office.

INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said he could not say when the public would be able to drive the final leg of I-69 between Bloomington and Evansville.

"We're not ready to announce that yet," he said Wednesday prior to a public hearing in Mooresville on preliminary plans for I-69 Section 6, the future and as-yet-unfunded final leg of the interstate in Indiana between Martinsville and Indianapolis.

An INDOT invitation sent to dignitaries on Wednesday, however, boasted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. EST on Dec. 9 at the WestGate Academy Conferencing and Training Center in Odon, Indiana.

Section 4 is the 27-mile stretch that will connect Naval Support Activity Crane to Bloomington. For the first time, people will be able to drive from Evansville to Indianapolis through Bloomington using all multilane highways.

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 follows the path of existing Indiana 37, which runs all the way to Indianapolis. The exact route of Section 6 hasn't been determined.

Winnecke said the realization that the next section of I-69 is ready for traffic is "very exciting" and "great news for all of Evansville and Southwestern Indiana."

"It opens a new leg of the interstate and creates new economic development opportunities," Winnecke said.

And the new stretch of highway will surely make the drive from Evansville to Bloomington and back more pleasant, Winnecke added. At present, "you can get behind school buses, coal trucks or lines of traffic and it can take awhile," Winnecke said. "It's not very pleasant. This will get us to Bloomington faster and safer."

The Courier & Press' Ryan Reynolds and John Martin contributed to this report.