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Public Pours Out to Debate I-69
By Lisa Sorg
Bloomington Independent, April 29, 1999
For those who thought it was premature to starting taking public input
on the proposed Interstate 69 route through Bloomington, it appears plenty
of people had plenty to say.
At Tuesday night's public forum, about 300 people jammed the council chambers
and the corridors at City Hall. Of those, 120 people some from as far
away as Pike County, 75 miles southwest of Bloomington signed up to sound
off, either for or against the highway.
Due to the massive amount of speakers, it was difficult to draw a bead
on which side had more supporters. But early in the evening it appeared
opinion was about evenly split, with a slight edge tipping toward highway
opponents by the end of the five-plus hour meeting.
The City Council conducted the public forum because it's considering voting
on a resolution either for or against the highway. Although the vote would
have no legal weight, its symbolic power could sway state highway officials'
opinions. The pro side, led by the local Chamber of Commerce, emphasized
economic development and job creation as reasons for the highway to bisect
Bloomington. "We have underemployment, people working at low wages with
low opportunities for growth," said Mary Katherine Brown of the Bloomington
Economic Development Center. "You're denying them economic diversity by
denying a continental highway.
" Members of the business, limestone and trucking communities also favored
the highway. "In terms of recruiting, linking with other cities, we're better
off with it," said Brian Hall, president of Irwin Union Bank.
Tim Mitchell, proprietor of the new Indiana Enterprise Center said Bloomington's
"number one drawback is because we're not on an interstate." Proponents
also say that if the highway doesn't go through Bloomington, the entire
southwestern corridor will be affected. This is why many people from Greene,
Daviess and Pike counties came to the forum.
"We are a distressed area," said Greene County resident Fred Markle, president
of Linton's downtown business organization. "This is a sore issue for us.
We need good infrastructure."
Meanwhile, highway opponents, including Citizens for Appropriate Rural
Roads, (CARR) used statistics and
newspaper reports to bolster their point of view. Opponents are fighting
the new terrain route because of environmental, crime, quality of life and
safety concerns. They do support an alternate route from Indianapolis to
Evansville, which would upgrade I-70 West and U.S. 41 South.
According to an Arizona State University study, Bloomington ranks fourth in
the nation in job growth. Yet, "we've been told if we don't get a highway
our economy will dry up," said CARR member
Andy Ruff, who is also running for an at-large city council seat. "There's
no evidence that supports the claim we need an interstate."
In addition to environmental concerns opponents say 5,000 acres of wetlands,
forest and farmland would be destroyed the highway would jeopardize southwestern
Indiana's agriculture-based economy, particularly in the Daviess County
Amish community.
Bloomington resident Mickey Keller said she spoke with Monroe County Sheriff
Steve Sharp about the potential for an increase in crime due to the interstate.
"And he said to me, 'It is self-evident but to what extent we don't know.
Bloomington will be a stopping point, to eat or refuel. It could also be
a place to sell drugs'." Several Bloomington transplants spoke against the
interstate, including one unidentified man who used to live in Hammond and
Indianapolis. "Gary has wonderful interstates. Have interstates saved Gary?"
he asked. "In Indianapolis I lived a few miles from I-465 and we couldn't
sleep with our windows open because of the trucks rumbling."
Discussions about a southwest interstate have been around since the beginning
of the superhighway era in the early '40s, said Steve Cecil, INDOT's
chief of pre-engineering. In 1991, the state began seriously exploring the
idea and INDOT endorsed an Evansville to Bloomington route. In 1996,
INDOT conducted a federally mandated environmental study (EIS),
which was reviewed by the EPA.
However, after the EPA reviewed the 1996 study, the agency determined
it was inadequate, said Mike MacMullen EPA's senior expert on environmental
impact studies. "My agency had significant concerns on the purpose and the
need," MacMullen said. "There were levels of environmental impact that hadn't
been completely evaluated. They had problems with looking at the range of
alternatives."
So last November, INDOT announced it was increasing the scope of
the project to include Indianapolis as the northern endpoint. Now INDOT
must go back to the drawing board and conduct a new study, which redefine
the purpose of this $1 billion project and examine all alternatives.
"No alternative is off the table," Cecil said. But Bloomington resident
Rob Fischmann criticized INDOT, alleging the state
didn't meet federal law during its first study. He said INDOT
already had decided on the new terrain highway and conducted the study
to jibe with its predetermined route.
"The agency was so committed to that route that it didn't want to explore
the alternatives," Fischmann said.
As for the alternative I-70/U.S. 41 route, Andy Knott of the Hoosier Environmental
Council cited a 1995 Corridor 18 study (the original name of the Interstate
69 project) that stated if the new terrain route goes through, U.S. 41 will
lose 39 percent of its traffic. This loss will hurt businesses on the west
side of the state, Knott said.
And those business appear to be in as much trouble as their neighbors to
the east. According to the U.S. Census and the Indiana Business Research
Center, the counties along U.S. 41 Vigo, Sullivan and Knox are equally,
if not slightly more impoverished than the four counties along the proposed
new terrain route Greene, Daviess and Pike. Gibson County is on both routes.
The average poverty rate for the U.S. 41 is 12.8 percent; the new terrain
counties' average is 12.6 percent. Unemployment rates are the same for
both regions also.
In population growth, the same survey shows that the new terrain counties
grew at an average of 3.5 percent, while the U.S. 41 region increased only
by 1.6 percent. Greene County had the highest rate of growth, at 8.3 percent,
nearly 3 points above the state average.
Carvin Thomas, president and business manager of IBEW 2249
said he's not sure if I-69 is the answer to Bloomington's shrinking manufacturing
base, but that the city council needed to address this more overarching concern.
Thomson closed in April 1998, leaving 1,400 people without jobs. Last month,
ABB announced it would be closing this year, resulting in hundreds
more out of work. "We need to have discussions about the manufacturing base
of Monroe County," Thomas said. An interstate might not help Monroe County's
manufacturing woes, says at least one study.
According to Indiana Business Review Outlook '99, the number
of manufacturing jobs nationwide continues to shrink. Ft. Wayne, which
is on I-69 North, "is too dependent on manufacturing and the job quality
is deteriorating," the study concludes. "Richmond, Connersville, New Castle
are experiencing a slowdown in economic activity. Manufacturing and service
jobs are down." Richmond and New Castle are on I-70 East ; Connersville
isn't on an interstate.
As for Muncie, also on I-69 North, "trends in manufacturing both locally
and nationally make it difficult for Muncie or any other community to
attract a new manufacturer of any size and scale of the ones that withdrew."
However, Kokomo, which contrary to a statement in INDOT's study,
is not on an interstate, is ranked in the top 25 U.S. manufacturing areas
and is eighth world wide. putting the city ahead of Detroit, Elkhart,
Ft. Wayne and Lafayette.
But all this economic prognostication and number crunching could be for
naught. A 1990 Donohue study that examined the economic benefits of a
proposed southwestern route said using an interstate as the basis for
predicting job growth is faulty.
"There is an inherent uncertainty in any long-range economic forecast,"
the study said, adding, "this project would be the most costly highway
built in Indiana since development of the interstate system."
Send Comments to: Lisa Sorg
Bloomington Independent, April 29, 1999
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