Zach Osowski

Zach.Osowski@courierpress.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- After weeks of uncertainty, including times when workers walked off construction sites, things seem to be back on track for building of Interstate 69 from Bloomington to Martinsville.

"We're cautiously optimistic at this point," Mary Catherine Carmichael, communications director for the city of Bloomington, said.

The Oct. 3 deadline when I-69 Development Partners LLC could have moved to end its contract with Isolux Corsan passed and the two sides are still working together. The I-69 Development group is in charge of building the 22-mile stretch of road known as Section 5 and tapped Isolux Corsan as its lead contractor.

Things started going badly in September when the Indiana Finance Authority threatened I-69 Development with a breach of contract. The Indiana Finance Authority entered into a public-private partnership with I-69 Development to build and maintain Section 5 in 2014 in what was hailed as an innovative way to pay for the highway without using state funds or falling into debt.

But in September, subcontractors walked off the job after not getting paid. IFA sent a warning to I-69 Development, which in turn filed a notice of failure to Isolux Corsan. Isolux Corsan claimed a lack of permitting had slowed them down and interrupted its cash flow to subcontractors. Things came to a head at the end of the month when a Marion County judge had to step in and allow I-69 Development to access a $24 million line of credit from Isolux Corsan to pay the workers.

But after a month of delays, things seem to be back on track and the new completion date of October 2017 is still intact. Isolux Corsan submitted new plans showing it can get construction done by next year to I-69 Development in order to stay on as lead contractor. Director of public / private partnerships Jim Stark told members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization last week that everything in place to have the road done in 12 months.

It's welcome news for Bloomington residents, since the original completion date was supposed to be this month.

"We're ready for it to be done," Carmichael said.

Once Section 5 is wrapped up, Section 6, running from Martinsville to Interstate 465, will be all that's left in connecting Evansville to Indianapolis. The Indiana Department of Transportation has picked Indiana 37 as the route for Section 6 but still hasn't released a construction time frame or a cost for the project.

Building an I-69 bridge in Evansville over the Ohio River is also in the planning stages.



