Interstate 69 price tag tops $3 billion

INDIANAPOLIS – New estimates show it will cost more than $3 billion to extend Interstate 69 from Indianapolis to Evansville – a price tag that’s grown by more than a billion dollars since 2003.

The Indiana Department of Transportation says inflation and other costs have caused the price to climb to $3.1 billion. State officials said the 142-mile extension would cost $1.7 billion when they lobbied the federal government for approval in 2003.

Opponents say the higher costs are one reason why the highway should be built along an existing route rather than carving a new route through southwestern Indiana.

“The route selection was misguided from the beginning,” said Tim Maloney, the Hoosier Environmental Council’s senior policy director. “I think over time that, with these projected cost increases, that conclusion is just reinforced.”

The Evansville Courier & Press reported that the department of transportation is taking
steps to keep costs down and is still moving forward with the project’s planned route.

“We’re going to build it,” said department of transportation spokesman Bruce Childs.
“That’s what’s happening.”

Inflation is a key reason for the increased price, Childs said. The initial cost estimates were based on the value of the dollar in 2000, while the new numbers are in 2010 dollars, Childs said.

The department of transportation could cut costs by reducing the median from 84 feet to 60 feet and paving the highway with asphalt instead of concrete.

State highway officials cautioned that price estimates likely will change as the department of transportation tries to reduce costs.