Greenwood willing to pay $8 million for I-65

A central Indiana mayor says his city is willing to pay up to $8 million toward construction of a new Interstate 65 interchange in order to speed up the project.

Greenwood Mayor Charles Henderson wants work started in the next few years on the interchange about two miles south of the existing Main Street junction.

Such a project would normally be paid for with federal and state money, but Henderson is offering to pay one-third of its estimated $24 million cost from a special taxing district for infrastructure improvements.

Henderson says the normal approval process is slow and he’s pushing the interchange project because it could boost business development in his city just south of Indianapolis.