John Tuohy, and Brian Eason

IndyStar

After 17 years of planning, myriad protests, numerous public hearings and hundreds of millions of dollars in spending, the state has settled on the route for the final section of the 142-mile I-69 highway extension.

The Indiana Department of Transportation on Tuesday announced that Ind. 37 from Martinsville to Indianapolis was the most “reasonable” of five paths considered for the interstate because it has the most economic and traffic benefits and does the least environmental damage to wetlands and forests.

“This is the reasonable alternative and offers the best return on investment,” said INDOT Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson at a news conference in Martinsville. “This route offers the strongest opportunities for economic growth, most significant safety improvements and greatest reduction in congestion.”

The decision means the state highway will be rebuilt into a federal interstate, cutting travel times from Martinsville to Indianapolis by 13 minutes while generating a projected $2.4 billion in gross domestic product and $1.7 billion in wages over 20 years, according to state-commissioned studies.

It also means an estimated 279 homeowners will be forced to sell and move and 96 businesses will need to relocate or close to make way for the construction of as many as nine interchanges and 14 overpasses or underpasses. The state can lay down the highway anywhere within 2,000 feet of Ind. 37 but will need only about 400 feet of right of way.

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Project manager and consultant Jim Miller said the locations of all the possible interchanges, overpasses and underpasses have been identified but how many get built still needs to be determined. Among the intersections being considered for interchanges are Ind. 39, Ind. 252, Ind. 144, Smith Valley Road and County Line Road.

School, fire and police officials along the corridor are worried that the interstate will increase school bus travel times for students and slow response times for firetrucks, ambulances and squad cars because access to and across the highway will be lessened when it’s an interstate.

“What I hear from my constituents is that they are afraid the highway will cut their communities in half,” said Indianapolis City-County Councilman Jason Holliday, who represents the southeast side.

Miller said community input will help determine where overpasses and underpasses are most needed. Some of those under consideration are Banta Road and Eppler Avenue, Fairview Road, Whiteland Road and Big Bend Road.

Proponents of the Ind. 37 route said it was the best choice to generate business and other development along the route.

“Access to modern infrastructure is the No. 1 criteria for businesses that want to expand,” said developer Jim Schellinger, president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. ”The importance of the I-69 corridor cannot be overstated. We are the Crossroads of America, and 80 percent of the goods transported in our state are on our roads.”

Greater Greenwood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Christian Maslowski said he expected light manufacturing to locate along the new highway along with, obviously, the service industry.

He said the decision has freed businesses to make some decisions.

“There was a lot of pent-up economic demand,” Maslowski said. “We know of businesses that have suppressed their plans.”

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Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said the selection was “the best, smartest route and will be a huge driver for the Johnson County economy."

The route was one of five that INDOT was considering. Two others ran parallel to Ind. 37 for much of the stretch from Martinsville, and two more cut through unincorporated areas of Mooresville to connect to I-70. All five begin in Martinsville. A 2004 study of the highway recommended Ind. 37 as the best and most direct route.

Businesses along Ind. 37 have complained that if they are forced to move, they will likely have to close permanently. The owner of Pipers Restaurant, 2130 W. Southport Road, which is close to Ind. 37, said last year that choosing that route would “kill" the restaurant, and Perry Township Schools Superintendent Thomas Little has said the expressway will add extra time and extra expense to school bus routes.

Some opponents said those are still their primary objections, but the only thing left is to make the best of INDOT's decision.

State Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, said she was "disappointed” in INDOT's choice.

“The thing to do now is to see what ways there are to address the concerns," said Miller, who authored a bill 10 years ago that banned the highway from going through Perry Township. The legislature last year passed a bill reversing that prohibition.

A study completed in 2015 compared the Ind. 37 route to the four other options, two of which would have disrupted fewer homes and businesses. But the less-disruptive routes through Mooresville would have provided only minimal improvements to travel times and congestion, the study found, while the parallel options would have provided similar traffic benefits but demolished nearly 200 more homes.

Tuesday’s decision eliminates these alternatives and establishes a rough corridor for construction, but the exact route still needs to be designed.

Opponents who lived along the other routes said they were relieved.

Steve Oschman, president of the Greater Mooresville Advisory Committee, said landowners next to two routes proposed in southern Mooresville had been in limbo, including him.

“My wife and I didn’t know whether to make home improvements to the house because we didn’t know if we would have to sell,” Oschman said. “A lot of people were like that, very tentative. Now we can move forward.”

When it reaches Marion County, the new I-69 is expected to connect with I-465 in a free-flowing interchange similar to that of other interstates in the area.

Planning for I-69, which eventually will stretch from Canada to Mexico, began in 1999 and has faced opposition nearly from the start. Environmentalists fearing damage to animals, plants and habitat early on fought some of the possible routes with full-page newspaper ads, petition drives and public rallies. Pro-labor forces labeled it the “NAFTA Superhighway,” after the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 2005, police arrested 21 protesters at the Statehouse after one of them spray-painted graffiti on the building, causing $3,000 in damage. Just one demonstrator was charged.

The total cost of the 142-mile project from Evansville is estimated at $3 billion, but the cost of the sixth leg has not been determined. About $700 million was devoted to I-69 from the $3.8 billion the state collected by leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a private operator under then-Gov. Mitch Daniels, but that money is gone, and the state must find funding in its own budget.

Construction timelines on projects of this size can take anywhere from two to seven years depending on how they are designed and how quickly funding is acquired. Assuming the rest of the planning phase goes smoothly, that would put the final section on track to open anywhere from 2022 to 2027.

Four of the six legs of the I-69 extension are completed. The 21-mile fifth leg, from Bloomington to Martinsville, is now under construction at a cost of $394 million.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter: @john_tuohy.

Call IndyStar reporter Brian Eason at (317) 444-6129. Follow him on Twitter: @brianeason.

Angst, uncertainty in Mooresville over I-69