Counties push on I-69 proposal in Statehouse

INDIANAPOLIS -- Officials from Monroe and Vigo counties joined political forces Wednesday in urging the state to use a route along U.S. 41 from Terre Haute to Evansville as the extension of Interstate 69 in southern Indiana.\nOfficials from those two counties, which include Bloomington and Terre Haute, announced their alliance during a Statehouse news conference.\nThey said a new-terrain route between Indianapolis and Evansville would benefit those cities but destroy thousands of acres of farmland, forests and wetlands, damage the serenity and beauty surrounding Bloomington and hurt businesses along U.S. 41 in Vigo County.\n"It does not make sense to hurt one community to help another community in Indiana," Terre Haute Mayor Judy Anderson said.