State awards $98 million contract for I-69 project
State highway officials have awarded a LaPorte company a $98.8 million contract to build a nine-mile section of Indiana's planned Interstate 69 extension through Daviess County.
State highway officials have awarded a LaPorte company a $98.8 million contract to build a nine-mile section of Indiana's planned Interstate 69 extension through Daviess County.
Environmental and citizens groups seek to stop construction of the 142-mile link between Evansville and Indianapolis, saying it will destroy valuable natural resources.
Indiana highway officials say construction of the $500 million Hoosier-Heartland Corridor connecting Fort Wayne and Lafayette is ahead of schedule and under budget.
The Indianapolis-based trucking company reported revenue of $133.1 million, up 4.6 percent from the same quarter of 2009. Profit rose to $2.9 million from $1 million.
The ongoing rehab of Interstate 465 will continue to be the biggest highway project in the metro area in 2011, but the rebuilding of an 11-mile segment on the west side could be all but finished by the end of the year—just when other significant highway projects will get under way in the metro area.
Indiana Department of Transportation spokeswoman Cher Goodwin says that with the new contract, the state has so far awarded eight contracts for building about 45 miles of the new $3 billion, 142-mile highway between Indianapolis and Evansville.
Environmentalists not impressed, say state is doing the minimum to comply with federal law.
Opponents of the Interstate 69 extension from Indianapolis to Evansville are warning that a 27-mile portion of the highway
could inflict significant ecological damage on a sensitive, cave-filled region of the state.
So far, the state has spent $20.3 million to buy 209 parcels. Another $69.7 million is budgeted for purchases through June
30, 2011.
Commuters and truckers could get an all-day headache when Interstate 70 closes in October to allow Eli Lilly and Keep Indianapolis
Beautiful to spruce up part of the city.
Bulldozers await an office complex that previously served as headquarters to August Mack Environmental. It’ll be the first
building demolished along Interstate 69 to make way for highway expansion.
It's the second rate increase since the state leased the Toll Road to a private company, and Thursday's price jump
won't be the last. The state's lease with the private company allows tolls to go up every July after next year.
State highway officials expect about 150 houses or businesses will have to be demolished as a new 20-mile stretch of U.S.
31 is built in northern Indiana.
The Indiana Department of Transportation says construction of another piece of Interstate 69 in southwestern Indiana's
Daviess County should begin later this summer.
Work is to start next year on upgrading the highway through Carmel and Westfield to interstate standards in phases through
2017.
The Interstate 69 extension between Evansville and Bloomington is on budget and should open years ahead of schedule in 2014,
Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday.
INDOT plans to put a traffic signal on a well-known west-side shortcut from Interstate 465 southbound to I-70 East, a move
stemming from the rebuilding of Sam Jones Expressway.
The two-year study by the Conexus Indiana Logistics Council Executive Committee involved 36 logistics executives statewide.
The lane opened Monday for eastbound traffic on I-465 from U.S. 31 (Meridian Street) to just past the Allisonville Road interchange.
A proposal to add optional toll lanes to parts of Interstates 69 and 65 raises all kinds of questions, such as how to squeeze
more lanes into the crowded I-69 corridor northeast of the city. And it’s debatable whether toll lanes could make more
money than they cost to implement.