Update on I-69 Extension in Indiana

[thefro]

http://enr.construction.com/infrastructure/transportation/2013/0128-Indiana-DOT-Seeks-P3-for-I-69-Project.asp

Update on a possible funding mechanism for Section 5

Last month, INDOT put out a request for information (RFI) seeking public-private partnerships (P3s) to develop Section 5, a 23-mile segment between Bloomington and Martinsville. Construction would cost $350 million to $500 million, according to the RFI. A sixth leg, from Martinsville to Indianapolis, would complete the road but was not in the RFI's scope.

Early signs are encouraging. The state received 17 responses from "regional, national and international firms with extensive expertise in the design, construction and financing of large public infrastructure projects," says Will Wingfield, INDOT spokesman. Bidders are not allowed to use tolls for financing. "Many people think that P3s will instantly lead to tolling," says Wingfield. "We have committed that motorists will be able to drive from Evansville to Indianapolis without paying a toll."

The RFI seeks design-build-finance and design-build-finance-operate-maintain proposals. After reviewing the responses, the state says it will publish a request for qualifications as early as next month, with a final request for proposals in July and an award in October.

Will be interesting to see some of the proposals... wonder if someone will propose shadow tolls as a funding mechanism?

[ShawnP]

I suspect Garvee Bonds most likely will be used.

[vtk]

My first instinct is that must be the name of a baseball player from the 60s.

[theline]

[agentsteel53]

fixed that for ya

[theline]

^^  My favorite Bonds, along with Gary "U.S." Bonds.

[ShawnP]

Bunch of jokers..........

Garvee bonds you know the stuff Kentucky has used to finance I-75, I-65 six lanes projects and the Louisville bridge projects. Basically it's a loan against future gas revenue.

[theline]

Yeah, I had looked it up, since I hadn't heard the term before. Google is a wonderful thing. Thanks for the explanation anyway.

[jnewkirk77]

The asphalt section of I-69 near the Patoka River bridges is sinking: http://www.14news.com/story/20877584/indot-says-i-69-is-sinking

[theline]

I hope they mailed in the warranty card. 

[ShawnP]

So I-69 is sinking..........didn't know my ex-wife drove in that area.

[ShawnP]

All big projects encourage grafters and greed but this was pretty bold if you ask me.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130203/NEWS14/302030317/Ethicists-question-secrecy-in-I-69-land-sales

[thefro]

All big projects encourage grafters and greed but this was pretty bold if you ask me.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130203/NEWS14/302030317/Ethicists-question-secrecy-in-I-69-land-sales

Sounds like they're gong to reopen an investigation and maybe change a law or two in response

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130204/NEWS05/302040334/Pence-weighs-in-on-I-69-land-dealings

[US71]

The asphalt section of I-69 near the Patoka River bridges is sinking: http://www.14news.com/story/20877584/indot-says-i-69-is-sinking

There's a similar problem along I-540 near Fayetteville, AR. Every 2-3 years, AHTD has to repave a couple small sections because the ground keeps sinking.

[mgk920]

And the same thing that I mentioned a few pages upthread - WisDOT did a couple of short stretches of WI 29 west of Wittenburg, WI with asphalt instead of their usual 'S.O.P.' concrete due to the swampy nature of the subsoils over which the road passes - it makes it much easier to smoothen the roadway as it continues to settle.

Mike

[seicer]

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130203/NEWS02/302030069/
I-69: Indiana inspector general to look at I-69 land sale by state official
Feb 3, 2013
Ryan Sabalow and Tim Evans | The Indianapolis Star

WASHINGTON, IND. – The Indiana inspector general's office has opened a second investigation into a land sale by a high-ranking Indiana Department of Transportation official of property along the proposed route for Interstate 69 through Southern Indiana.

Troy Woodruff, a former state lawmaker who oversaw 500 employees at the INDOT district through which I-69 passed, was cleared in 2010 by the inspector general, the state's top ethics officer, in a land sale he made with the state.

He and his family had engaged in a series of deals that ultimately yielded an 83 percent gain on a piece of land Woodruff owned with his father and brother, but he said he didn't use his influence or political connections to enrich himself or his family.

[jnewkirk77]

In reading the coverage of Woodruff's land dealings, I get the distinct impression that it ain't gonna end well ... for him.

[ShawnP]

Greed is a equal opportunity destroyer and Mr. Woodruff will be paying his and that of his family.

[SW Indiana]

An electrical contractor has been working around the US 50 interchange the past week or so. Believe they are installing lighting, although, I've just noticed them working around the exit and entrance ramps.

[tdindy88]

A stoplight there for the NB ramp up to US 50 wouldn't hurt either.

[ShawnP]

Like most road projects I-69 will have back fill stuff as Indiana has to adjust to people's driving habits. You can predict behavior all you want but humans are humans.

[thefro]

http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/monroe-county-residents-surprised-i69-road-closure-45304/

Video from WTIU (PBS Station in Bloomington)

As construction for Interstate 69 moves its way across southern Monroe County, permanent road closures are forcing some residents to rethink how they get around. As residents near the Monroe/Greene County line say the state did not give them advance warning about the closures.

Carter Road is a small, winding, sometimes gravel road that runs from State Road 45 in Greene County to Breeden Road in southwestern Monroe County. Michael Roberts rents a small home on Carter Road where he raises chickens and maintains a large vegetable garden. He says officials told him the road was closing just five days in advance.

"Unless we go to them, we don't know anything,"  he says. "In the past thee weeks they have cut our water line two or three times and didn't tell us they were going to be digging around it or anything, I just feel that they don't communicate with us at all, they don't tell us anything."

Other residents in both Monroe and Greene counties along the road expressed similar sentiments.

The right of way for the interstate, Roberts says, will be barely 100 feet from his front door. Since he is not a landowner, the state need not compensate him for any inconvenience brought by having an interstate as a new neighbor.

"Its just like, because we rent, we're not even United States citizens, we don't count for anything,"  he says. "We are still taxpayers, we still live here. I'm a veteran of the army, its just crazy the way things have gone down around here."

Officials from the Indiana Department of Transportation say plans to close the road have been in planning books for some time now. Spokesperson Cher Elliott says the final road closure plans were released at a public hearing in August of 2010.

[vtk]

Seems this resident should be more angry at his landlord than at the state, for not passing along this information that INDOT reportedly and dutifully shared with landowners.

[trafficsignal]

And it seems the Bloomington news went out of their way to publish a scenario that puts the I-69 construction in the worst possible light.

[vdeane]

Seems this resident should be more angry at his landlord than at the state, for not passing along this information that INDOT reportedly and dutifully shared with landowners.

For some reason, people love blaming the government for the bad things private parties do.