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Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the opening times for the northbound and southbound ramps of the Interstate 69/465 interchange.
It’s taken 16 years and three governors to get Interstate 69 fully completed between Indianapolis and Evansville, and now it will fall to future leadership to finish the interstate’s linkage to Kentucky.
On Tuesday, Gov. Eric Holcomb and his two predecessors, former governors Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels, gathered with a crowd of about 200 people to celebrate the opening of the interchange linking I-69 with I-465. The interchange is the final portion of the Evansville-to-Indy I-69 project, which began construction in Evansville in 2008 and has taken $4.3 billion and 16 years to complete.
“We’ve gone from a lot of talk, a lot of conversation, a lot of discussion, multiple studies, to action and dirt-turning, to today,” Holcomb told reporters in advance of the official event. “Later today, our visitors and our residents will be able to use something that’s only been dreamt about. There were a lot of cynics along the way, a lot of doubters that understandably wondered if it would be completed in their lifetimes. Today, we proved that no project is too big.”
The Indiana Department of Transportation says construction at or near the I-465 interchange will continue through the end of this year, but the southbound ramps for the interchange were scheduled to open to traffic on Tuesday night and the northbound ramps are scheduled to open as early as Friday.
“Now, all four quadrants [of the state] are connected directly to our state capital,” Holcomb said. “Think of [interstates] 74 and 70, 65, 69. We’re there.”
Holcomb noted during that the project was completed on budget and ahead of schedule. In 2018 the Indiana Finance Authority amended its agreement with the Indiana Toll Road Concession Co., raising toll road fees for heavy vehicles on that northern Indiana highway. Most of those extra fees—$600 million—went towards the Martinsville-to-Indianapolis portion of I-69, speeding up completion by three years.
“It’s just a joy to see it finally come to completion,” Daniels told reporters in advance of the event.
Though construction on the project began 16 years ago, talk about building such a road goes back much longer than that.
“This is just a culmination of an epic journey which I am told is nearly 80 years in the making, when Hoosiers first began to speak about creating an artery from our capital city to Evansville,” Pence, the former vice president, said during the event. “This is more than just a highway. It’s a monument to the determination of the people of Indiana, and leadership, for generations—to leave this state better than we found it, create opportunities for our children and grandchildren.”
When the celebration officially began, Holcomb traveled a stretch of the new roadway on the back of a 1974 Indianapolis 500 pace car decorated with both U.S. and Indiana state flags.
In making such an entrance, Holcomb continued a tradition set by his predecessors.
During their terms as governor, both Daniels and Pence hosted their own celebrations marking the opening of key segments of I-69.
In November 2012, Daniels rode his motorcycle at the head of a ceremonial parade on I-69 to mark the opening of the interstate between Evansville and the exit at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.
When the 27-mile section of I-69 between Crane and Bloomington opened in November 2015, Pence led a ceremonial caravan to mark the occasion. That stretch of interstate represented a significant milestone because its opening created the first-ever direct highway link between Evansville and Bloomington.
Now that I-69 is essentially complete in Indiana, the next challenge is to link the interstate with neighboring Kentucky.
Indiana and Kentucky are working together on that $1.4 billion project, called the I-69 Ohio River Crossing project.
The first portion of the project began with road improvements in Henderson, Kentucky. That work began in 2022 and is expected to wrap up next year.
The second portion involves road improvements in Evansville, and that portion of the project is expected to be done in 2026.
Indiana and Kentucky are still working to secure funding for the major portion of the project—a new four-lane Ohio River bridge linking Evansville and Henderson. Construction is projected to begin in 2027 and finish in 2031, though both states say they are looking for opportunities to accelerate that timeline.
Taking a wider view, I-69 has been nicknamed the “NAFTA Superhighway” because, decades ago, planners envisioned that the road would run all the way from Michigan to Texas, providing a direct route between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
But that vision has not yet been realized. Though I-69 is now complete through Michigan and Indiana, large gaps still exist in other states.
Gary Langston, president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association, said the opening of the I-465 interchange will certainly alleviate congestion in that area, but he doesn’t expect I-69 to see a big influx of truck traffic right away because the interstate doesn’t yet link Indiana with points south.
“It’s going to be a while before what we would all like to see and hope for is ready to go,” Langston said.
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To what extent should O’Bannon and Kernan be mentioned for their support?
Maybe if they were still alive, this looked like an in person event.
Did they invite Judy O’Bannon and Maggie Kernan to the ceremonies? Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan moved this project off the dime in Indiana.
Pretty sure Mitch sold the Toll Road to pay for I69.
No federal funding for crucial infrastructure across a major river? Where did the $2 trillion go?