$600 Million to Save 10 Minutes

Proposal and savings
Reject funding for new terrain I-69 Highway Extension project with an estimated cost of over $1.1 billion — 80 percent federally funded. Instead choose the cheaper alternative of upgrading existing Highway 41 and I-70 at a total cost of $500 million.

Background
This proposed 140-mile I-69 extension would extend from Indianapolis to Evansville, Indiana. The Indianapolis-to-Evansville highway is one segment of the proposed 1000-mile "Mid-Continent Superhighway" linking Canada with Mexico, which would cost taxpayers $6-10 billion, and would unnecessarily duplicate existing interstates.

Status
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is currently preparing a supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement. In April 1998, I-69 was featured as a "Fleecing of America" on NBC Nightly News, which was followed three months later by an "It’s Your Money" segment on ABC World News Tonight. In May 1998, Congress passed a six-year transportation funding bill which provided only $27 million for I-69. In November 1998, INDOT, while still favoring the new terrain route, announced a two-year delay while it studies alternatives.

Problems with the Project

Taxpayer Concerns
Although touted as an "economic development" project for four counties, it would create only four jobs per year in each of them, at a cost of $1.5 million per job. An independent economic analysis found that the highway’s costs would exceed its benefits by $115 million, with every dollar spent yielding only 81 cents in benefits. The alternative plan of upgrading existing roads would save taxpayers $600 million, and travel time would be only 10 minutes longer than on the new road.

Local Community Concerns
An unprecedented coalition of Indiana farmers, conservationists, local businesspeople, elected officials, and taxpayer groups are opposed to the project. Numerous Indiana newspapers — including those in Indianapolis, Gary, South Bend, Muncie, and Terre Haute — have editorialized against it. In September 1998, one of Indiana’s largest Amish communities pleaded with Governor Frank O’Bannon to cancel the project, which would split the Amish settlement.

Environmental Concerns
The project would destroy 5,000 acres, including 1,000 acres of forests and 3,000 acres of farmland, and lead to sprawl development. Indiana is already losing prime farmland faster than any other state except Texas. The highway would also bisect the new Patoka National Wetlands Project and Wildlife Refuge, home to bald eagles and other endangered species.

Contacts
Sandra Tokarski, Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, (812) 825-9555; Andy Knott, Hoosier Environmental Council, (317) 685-8800; Alexander Ewing, Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest, (312) 795-3708; David Hirsch, Friends of the Earth, (202) 783-7400x215.