I-69 not expected to be an economic cure-all

Will Interstate 69 bring the high-paying manufacturers southwestern Indiana craves, or more of the low-wage burger joint jobs it already has in abundance -- only at truck stops instead of on Main Street?\nThe debate over potential economic development has begun, long before any pavement is laid for the extension of the so-called NAFTA Superhighway from Canada to Mexico.\nAcademics, development leaders and transportation officials say any economic boost for the region may depend on how much communities are able to spend for more development tools.\nTo entice big employers, that could mean paying for tax incentives, sewer and water extensions, better schools and more highly trained workers.\nAnd given southwestern Indiana's current economic troubles, many communities could find themselves lacking the financial muscle to make competitive offers in bidding wars for new factories.\nThe questions have taken on new urgency with Gov. Frank O'Bannon's recent announcement of a favored I-69 corridor through the region.\n"If you just leave things alone, you may end up with low-level uses at first," said Morton Marcus, director of IU's Indiana Business Research Center. "But with the right kind of development plan, you can use an interstate corridor as a marvelous economic development tool."\nI-69 supporters who expect high-wage employers cite a study done for the Indiana Department of Transportation that predicts the highway will generate $162 million annually by 2025 in added personal income across 26 southwestern Indiana counties. Freight shippers are forecast to save $51 million a year in operating costs.\nObservers contend any such projections are flawed because there is no recent precedent for a project like the extension of I-69, which will stretch from Indianapolis through Texas to the Mexican border. The nation's interstate system was largely complete decades ago, when the manufacturing sector was much different. Recent projects have been limited to expansions and improvements.\n"You're projecting down the road 15 to 20 years, which I'm dubious about because Indiana has had a difficult time just projecting its revenue a year in advance," said James McDowell, an Indiana State University political science professor.\nSome of I-69's beneficiaries are clear. Indiana University would no longer be one of the few major research universities without interstate access. And the highway is expected to help the 4,000-employee Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center avoid closure -- a possibility local officials have worried about for years. Farmers along the route can expect to see their property values jump, creating opportunity to sell if they choose.\nBut McDowell questions whether the interstate will generate new commerce or merely funnel traffic away from Interstate 70 and other roads. He doubts many manufacturers will want to set up shop along the I-69 extension, given the lower labor costs enticing them overseas.\n"I'm not opposing the highway, but I just don't see this as being the wonderful panacea everybody is predicting," McDowell said.\nPatrick Barkey, director of Ball State University's Bureau of Business Research, said southwestern Indiana is geographically situated to benefit from U.S. auto makers' shift from the upper Midwest to the South, which also is drawing foreign automakers' assembly lines and parts suppliers.\nSouthwestern Indiana already is benefiting from the trend. In 1998, Toyota opened a truck assembly plant in Princeton, about 10 miles north of Interstate 64, an east-west route. Toyota added production of minivans at Princeton on Wednesday, and plans to expand Princeton employment to 4,700.\n"Anyone who thinks that construction of a highway only adds low-wage jobs at gas stations is not paying attention to what has been happening in the auto industry in the past 20 years," Barkey said. "And this really opens up a corner of the state that needs jobs."\nThe six counties through which I-69 would pass to link Indianapolis and Evansville all rank below the statewide average for personal income. In the six-county area, per capita income in 2000 was $24,009, or 89 percent of the statewide figure of $26,933, according to U.S. Census data.\nThe challenge of using an interstate as a magnet for good jobs is playing out along an existing section of I-69 about 50 miles northeast of Indianapolis in Marion, a town of about 29,000 built on manufacturing tied to the auto industry.\nFor decades, little development emerged in farm fields along the highway, which runs 5 miles east of downtown Marion and a couple miles east of Gas City.\nBut a decade ago, local officials invested in new sewer and water lines. Manufacturers that have since set up shop near I-69 include Amcast Industrial Corp., which operates a 334-employee plant making automotive wheels, and American Woodmark, a kitchen cabinet maker employing about 400.\nBoth recently announced expansion plans, and retail growth has sprouted along the interstate as well. Local officials hope to entice more manufacturers.\n"We're constantly talking to people who would not be considering us without the interstate," said Tim Eckerle, director of the Grant County Economic Growth Council. "You have to have an infrastructure base"