The Indiana DOT successfully completes the $2 billion I-69 Finish Line project, connecting Evansville and Indianapolis. Despite challenges like labor and material shortages, the project finished on time and budget, providing significant economic impacts and improved mobility for the region. Next up: the I-69 Ohio River Crossing project in southern Indiana.
Photo courtesy of INDOT/I-69 Finish Line
Dubbed the I-69 Finish Line by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), the 26-mi. project is the sixth and final section of the I-69 connection between Evansville and Indianapolis.
Five years after construction began, a $2 billion Indiana interstate project is completed on time and on budget despite a few unexpected hurdles.
Dubbed the I-69 Finish Line by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), the 26-mi. project is the sixth and final section of the I-69 connection between Evansville and Indianapolis.
"It is very nice to have the newest interstate in the nation," said Tim Miller, HNTB corridor manager for the project. "America isn't designing and building a lot of new interstates. The economic impacts and improved mobility will be significant for the region."
Those impacts are expected to add up to $4.1 billion over the next 20 years.
Crews have completed the last few miles of I-69 that connects to I-465 and adding an additional travel lane on a 6-mi. stretch on westbound I-465. An additional travel lane also was added on the eastbound portions of I-465 last year.
"The big milestone this year is when we complete and open the I-465/I-69 interchange," Miller said.
Photo courtesy of INDOT/I-69 Finish Line
The project was originally slated for completion in 2027, but a funding boost from Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb's Next Level Road Plan shaved three years off the schedule. In late 2019, INDOT published a map detailing the five construction projects to complete the work. Less than six months later, COVID brought the country to a near standstill. But crews on the Finish Line project worked on.
"I want to just highlight the fact that in 2019 we laid out a plan and through all the adversity, we've been able to achieve all the milestones that we talked about five years ago," Miller said.
Topping the list of challenges were labor and material shortages.
"The design was pretty much the way we outlined it and designed it back in 2019, so we didn't have any surprises there, but just the sheer amount of material availability and staffing availability … When you're building a brand new interstate and in a very aggressive time frame, that was a real challenge in working with the industry partners in order to make sure that, just because of the sheer importance of this segment, that we're able to deliver."
INDOT and the project partners were able to overcome those challenges largely through working together, Miller said.
"We really had a lot of partnering opportunities where INDOT and its partners would work together to figure out how to achieve goals. I think we've learned that there's great power in collaboration. We set that goal — and it was a monster goal — to get everything done in the time frame on a normal five-year period."
Next up on major I-69 projects is a joint effort between Indiana and Kentucky, the I-69 Ohio River Crossing in southern Indiana in the Evansville area. Kentucky began construction on the first segment in 2022. Construction on the four-lane bridge is scheduled to begin in 2027 with completion set for 2031.
By the Numbers (courtesy of INDOT):
- More than 26 mi. of new interstate highway constructed as part of I-69 Finish Line.
- More than 35 new lane mi. of local access roads will be built.
- I-69 Finish Line includes 39 new bridges and 35 existing bridges rehabilitated or replaced.
- I-69 Finish Line eliminates 14 traffic signals, leading to a faster and more efficient commute.
- The project includes 14 new overpasses and underpasses.
- Crews will lay more than 3 million sq. yds. of new pavement. That would equate to pavement covering about 469 football fields.
- Enough dirt and stone will be excavated and moved to fill Bankers Life Fieldhouse more than 20 times. That's nearly 3 million pickup truck loads.
- Noise barriers are proposed at several locations along I-465 and the new I-69. CEG
Photo courtesy of INDOT/I-69 Finish Line
Lori Tobias
Lori Tobias is a journalist of more years than she cares to count, most recently as a staff writer for The Oregonian and previously as a columnist and features writer for the Rocky Mountain News. She is the author of the memoir, Storm Beat - A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast, and the novel Wander, winner of the Nancy Pearl Literary Award in 2017. She has freelanced for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Denver Post, Alaska Airlines in-flight, Natural Home, Spotlight Germany, Vegetarian Times and the Miami Herald. She is an avid reader, enjoys kayaking, traveling and exploring the Oregon Coast where she lives with her husband Chan and rescue pups, Gus and Lily.
Read more from Lori Tobias here.
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