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Update on I-69 Extension in Indiana

Started by mukade, June 25, 2011, 08:55:31 AM

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Life in Paradise

Thanks, ITB

Making good progress and we are just now entering the serious construction season!


ITB


Here's a drawing that depicts the long box culvert now under construction at the future Henderson Ford Road interchange in Morgan County.


Courtesy INDOT
The future I-69/Henderson Ford Road interchange in Morgan County.

And a recent construction picture.


Looking west from the Henderson Ford Road overpass. Photo was taken April 4, 2021.

Plutonic Panda


mvak36

#3703
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 20, 2021, 03:16:05 PM
https://www.i69finishline.com/

I like the updated site. It looks a lot different from what they had on there last month. I found the Corridor Highlights Map page pretty informative.
Counties: Counties visited
Travel Mapping: Summary

ITB

#3704
A few pictures. Photos were taken Sunday, April 25, 2021, unless otherwise noted.

Indiana I-69 Corridor Project, Section 6, Morgan County


Looking south from the Egbert Road overpass in Morgan County. Beams are now in place for the bridge that will carry the southbound lanes over Clear Creek, about three miles north of Martinsville. Adhering to the 45 mph speed limit was the Amazon delivery van, probably to the consternation of a few others.


The perspective from the other direction; looking north toward the Egbert Road overpass.


Construction continues on the southbound mainline bridge over the dry swale just north of the Egbert Road overpass; looking north. Beams are expected to be placed soon.


Looking south from near the former State Road 37/Myra Lane crossing, just north of Martinsville. In the background, construction has commenced on the Teeters Road overpass. On the right, the second phase of the Morgan Street extension is underway.


The Teeters Road overpass work zone; looking north. Forms encase the median bent (expand the photo), so the concrete pours appear imminent.


Near the Teeters Road work zone; looking south. In the background is where State Road 37 is sealed off at its northern point for construction of the Martinsville segment. The road pictured is Twin Branch Road, one the new, recently completed frontage roads.


The abutments and median bent of the overpass that will carry State Road 44 over I-69, just on the outskirts of Martinsville; looking east. Beam placement should occur in the not too distant future, probably in early May.


Median bent of the State Road 44 overpass; looking slightly southeast.


The State Road 44 construction zone just north of the future overpass; looking north.


Equipment at the SR 44 work zone.


Last one. Another look at the bridge construction at Clear Creek, north of Martinsville; looking south.


tdindy88

Quote from: ITB on April 27, 2021, 04:30:49 PM

Looking south from the Egbert Road overpass in Morgan County. Beams are now in place for the bridge that will carry the southbound lanes over Clear Creek, about three miles north of Martinsville. Adhering to the 45 mph speed limit was the Amazon delivery van, probably to the consternation of a few others.

I found myself behind an Amazon van on that same stretch a few weeks ago driving through the zone and we had to follow it all the way past 144. I could have very well been the same driver.

I-55

Quote from: tdindy88 on April 27, 2021, 09:04:29 PM
Quote from: ITB on April 27, 2021, 04:30:49 PM

Looking south from the Egbert Road overpass in Morgan County. Beams are now in place for the bridge that will carry the southbound lanes over Clear Creek, about three miles north of Martinsville. Adhering to the 45 mph speed limit was the Amazon delivery van, probably to the consternation of a few others.

I found myself behind an Amazon van on that same stretch a few weeks ago driving through the zone and we had to follow it all the way past 144. I could have very well been the same driver.

Amazon vans are always driving the way we don't want them to.
Let's Go Purdue Basketball Whoosh

SkyPesos

Quote from: ITB on April 10, 2021, 11:36:59 AM

Here's a drawing that depicts the long box culvert now under construction at the future Henderson Ford Road interchange in Morgan County.


Courtesy INDOT
The future I-69/Henderson Ford Road interchange in Morgan County.

And a recent construction picture.


Looking west from the Henderson Ford Road overpass. Photo was taken April 4, 2021.
Something I noticed, INDOT seems to LOVE dogbone interchanges in recent years. Think there were at least 4 in a row on US 31 and Keystone Pkwy in Carmel when I was there a month ago. Not that it's a bad thing, I think dogbone interchanges are great in certain conditions; eliminates the need for a traffic signal.

SSR_317

Quote from: SkyPesos on April 27, 2021, 10:21:46 PMSomething I noticed, INDOT seems to LOVE dogbone interchanges in recent years. Think there were at least 4 in a row on US 31 and Keystone Pkwy in Carmel when I was there a month ago. Not that it's a bad thing, I think dogbone interchanges are great in certain conditions; eliminates the need for a traffic signal.

Hamilton County, IN (especially the City of Carmel) is the Roundabout Capitol of the World. You can literally get dizzy driving around "dem dogbones" and the other circular intersections there!

And yes, INDOT has recently made such interchanges the preferred type for new freeway construction in the state, as well as for complete rebuilds of older diamonds.

silverback1065

Quote from: SSR_317 on April 28, 2021, 02:24:53 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on April 27, 2021, 10:21:46 PMSomething I noticed, INDOT seems to LOVE dogbone interchanges in recent years. Think there were at least 4 in a row on US 31 and Keystone Pkwy in Carmel when I was there a month ago. Not that it's a bad thing, I think dogbone interchanges are great in certain conditions; eliminates the need for a traffic signal.

Hamilton County, IN (especially the City of Carmel) is the Roundabout Capitol of the World. You can literally get dizzy driving around "dem dogbones" and the other circular intersections there!

And yes, INDOT has recently made such interchanges the preferred type for new freeway construction in the state, as well as for complete rebuilds of older diamonds.

yes alternative intersections are the preferred consideration for INDOT now. they tend to be safer. And Carmel has the most in the US at 127+

mvak36

Quote from: silverback1065 on April 28, 2021, 02:35:01 PM
Quote from: SSR_317 on April 28, 2021, 02:24:53 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on April 27, 2021, 10:21:46 PMSomething I noticed, INDOT seems to LOVE dogbone interchanges in recent years. Think there were at least 4 in a row on US 31 and Keystone Pkwy in Carmel when I was there a month ago. Not that it's a bad thing, I think dogbone interchanges are great in certain conditions; eliminates the need for a traffic signal.

Hamilton County, IN (especially the City of Carmel) is the Roundabout Capitol of the World. You can literally get dizzy driving around "dem dogbones" and the other circular intersections there!

And yes, INDOT has recently made such interchanges the preferred type for new freeway construction in the state, as well as for complete rebuilds of older diamonds.

yes alternative intersections are the preferred consideration for INDOT now. they tend to be safer. And Carmel has the most in the US at 127+

Man, that is a lot for one city lol, but I guess if it works for them, more power to them. I found this map on the city site. Up to 138 now.
Counties: Counties visited
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ITB


Earlier this week Toyota announced a major expansion of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, creating 1,400 jobs. It's doubtful this would have happened if I-69 had not been built from Evansville to Indianapolis.

Link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/toyota-indiana-adding-1400-jobs-with-multimillion-dollar-investment/

sprjus4

Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 03:30:02 PM

Earlier this week Toyota announced a major expansion of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, creating 1,400 jobs. It's doubtful this would have happened if I-69 had not been built from Evansville to Indianapolis.

Link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/toyota-indiana-adding-1400-jobs-with-multimillion-dollar-investment/
Debatable... it was still on the I-64 corridor.

CtrlAltDel

Does anyone know why this bit of the pier has a different color than the rest?

Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)

ITB

^^^
It's just the lining of the form that has adhered to the concrete. It will be pulled off. To the left, there's a small section of the same material, which, also, will be removed.

ITB

#3715
Quote from: sprjus4 on April 30, 2021, 04:40:21 PM
Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 03:30:02 PM

Earlier this week Toyota announced a major expansion of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, creating 1,400 jobs. It's doubtful this would have happened if I-69 had not been built from Evansville to Indianapolis.

Link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/toyota-indiana-adding-1400-jobs-with-multimillion-dollar-investment/
Debatable... it was still on the I-64 corridor.

Yes, the facility is on the I-64 corridor. But, now, there's a north-south corridor, too, that being I-69. Seems to me, without a doubt, the extension of I-69 in Indiana was a meaningful contributing factor in Toyota's decision to expand at Princeton.

OCGuy81

Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 05:53:25 PM
Quote from: sprjus4 on April 30, 2021, 04:40:21 PM
Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 03:30:02 PM

Earlier this week Toyota announced a major expansion of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, creating 1,400 jobs. It's doubtful this would have happened if I-69 had not been built from Evansville to Indianapolis.

Link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/toyota-indiana-adding-1400-jobs-with-multimillion-dollar-investment/
Debatable... it was still on the I-64 corridor.

Yes, the facility is on the I-64 corridor. But, now, there's a north-south corridor, too, that being I-69. Seems to me, without a doubt, the extension of I-69 in Indiana was a meaningful contributing factor in Toyota's decision to expand at Princeton.


I think the argument that interstates bring jobs is true....to a degree.  I look at Wisconsin where both I-39 and I-41 were blue shields slapped up on existing freeways and don't appear to have changed much.

With this, however, being new construction and automobile assembly being the new business, it makes sense an interstate, which provides access to easy transportation, could've been a factor.

I-55

Quote from: OCGuy81 on April 30, 2021, 06:57:34 PM
Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 05:53:25 PM
Quote from: sprjus4 on April 30, 2021, 04:40:21 PM
Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 03:30:02 PM

Earlier this week Toyota announced a major expansion of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, creating 1,400 jobs. It's doubtful this would have happened if I-69 had not been built from Evansville to Indianapolis.

Link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/toyota-indiana-adding-1400-jobs-with-multimillion-dollar-investment/
Debatable... it was still on the I-64 corridor.

Yes, the facility is on the I-64 corridor. But, now, there's a north-south corridor, too, that being I-69. Seems to me, without a doubt, the extension of I-69 in Indiana was a meaningful contributing factor in Toyota's decision to expand at Princeton.


I think the argument that interstates bring jobs is true....to a degree.  I look at Wisconsin where both I-39 and I-41 were blue shields slapped up on existing freeways and don't appear to have changed much.

With this, however, being new construction and automobile assembly being the new business, it makes sense an interstate, which provides access to easy transportation, could've been a factor.

It's true that the interstate-job relationship is more complicated than simple causation.
There several inputs, notably:

Location - Being close to population centers for labor and consumers.

Location - Being in close proximity to resources (raw materials and/or intermediate goods).

and Location - having the appropriate space for what you're trying to accomplish (Walt Disney World wanted a lot of land so they could expand, whereas your local ice cream shop only needs a small lot)

If you're not near these things, an interstate designation probably won't mean as much as if that location doesn't have land, capital, labor, and consumers. Which leads to output factors:

Industry - what's going to develop off the interstate, dependent of the factors above.

Magnitude - Is it going to be big, small, or somewhere in the middle? dependent of the factors above and more.

Structure - Local business or major corporation? Corporations often have a more organized supply structure that they pull from, meaning they would want to be in closer proximity to it, whereas local businesses have more flexibility to get their capital from local suppliers.

Is there more that goes into this? Yes. Is this a simple explanation? Yes. Am I an expert in economics? I aced the class in high school, but I'm not an "expert." Does it make sense? yeah.
Let's Go Purdue Basketball Whoosh

westerninterloper

Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 03:30:02 PM

Earlier this week Toyota announced a major expansion of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, creating 1,400 jobs. It's doubtful this would have happened if I-69 had not been built from Evansville to Indianapolis.

Link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/toyota-indiana-adding-1400-jobs-with-multimillion-dollar-investment/

There's no evidence of the impact of I-69. The plant isn't on the new interstate, or even really near it. When the plants were constructed in the early 1990s, I-69 had already been discussed for a decade or so, but it was still almost twenty years until construction started. It was clear at that time Princeton won the plant because of I-64 (as well as big state incentives, and industrial losses in the Evansville area), a direct path east to the Georgetown plant, and many other parts plants along 64. There are no other Toyota plants I know of along I-69 that would attract investment along that route.
Nostalgia: Indiana's State Religion

ITB

#3719
Quote from: westerninterloper on April 30, 2021, 09:57:47 PM
Quote from: ITB on April 30, 2021, 03:30:02 PM

Earlier this week Toyota announced a major expansion of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, creating 1,400 jobs. It's doubtful this would have happened if I-69 had not been built from Evansville to Indianapolis.

Link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/toyota-indiana-adding-1400-jobs-with-multimillion-dollar-investment/

There's no evidence of the impact of I-69. The plant isn't on the new interstate, or even really near it. When the plants were constructed in the early 1990s, I-69 had already been discussed for a decade or so, but it was still almost twenty years until construction started. It was clear at that time Princeton won the plant because of I-64 (as well as big state incentives, and industrial losses in the Evansville area), a direct path east to the Georgetown plant, and many other parts plants along 64. There are no other Toyota plants I know of along I-69 that would attract investment along that route.

I'm not saying I-69 was the deciding factor in Toyota's decision to expand at Princeton. But, clearly, having quick access to a north-south interstate was a consideration that may have moved the needle. And, although, the plant isn't directly adjacent to an interstate, it's just 5–7 minutes from either I-64 or I-69. Doesn't get much better than that.

Would Toyota have originally invested in the Princeton plant if I-64 didn't exist? Don't think so. Roads do matter. Quality infrastructure does matter. We'll probably never know whether the new investment would have moved forward if I-69 wasn't built. But it was. And it's a big plus for potential economic development in southwest Indiana.

To be sure, it's debatable whether better roads and infrastructure directly correlate to more economic investment. Generally, however, with quality roads and good infrastructure in place, the pluses tend to add up. And, when it comes to attracting economic development, the more pluses a locale can put forward, the better. It's just common sense.

By the way, in Bloomington, Cook Medical, a medical device manufacturer, announced yesterday it was looking for another 300 employees, after hiring 300 earlier. A couple years back, Cook acquired the former GE refrigerator factory in Bloomington, which closed after GE sold its appliance division. Cook Medical now employs about 5,000 in Monroe County. Was I-69 a major factor in Cook Medical's decision to expand its workforce? Highly doubtful. But with Bloomington now on the interstate grid, it's a plus. And a plus is a plus, however small.

Links: https://www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/news/local/cook-medical-hiring-300-boosts-minimum-wage/article_33535326-a9c3-11eb-8764-5397ea6eb947.html#tncms-source=login

Because the article's behind a paywall, here's a fair-use section:

QuoteCook Medical saw its orders cut in half in the early part of the pandemic, but President Pete Yonkman said business this month is back to normal.

The company is hiring 300 workers and also is boosting its minimum wage for hourly employees starting Sunday. Some other employees will get one-time bonuses.

Cook, which is privately held and based in Bloomington, makes medical products, including injection needles, catheters and stents. Its products are also used in medical devices such as endoscopes, which are flexible tubes with a camera. The company provides products for specialities including gynecology, urology and gastroenterology.

...

To accommodate the rising demand for products, the company hired 300 people over the past year and is seeking to hire 300 more. The company’s job portal, cookmedical.com/careers, lists jobs openings in Bloomington for more than 60 types of jobs, ranging from assembly to engineering and French-speaking customer support coordinator.

Edit: Grammar, readability, and a minor correction for accuracy.



Life in Paradise

The discussion for I-69 started long before construction started, and there were two sets of studies done in the years before construction began (thank you environmentalists).  I have talked with several people that have worked in the office at Toyota that indicate that the fact that the road was coming was a factor (how much is another thing).  I also understand that the site had previously been submitted and reviewed by Toyota when Georgetown, KY was selected.  Georgetown has north/south interstate access, but of course is within an hour or so of Cincinnati and Louisville and in the backyard of Lexington.  Definitely a tipping point over Evansville/Henderson/Owensboro/Vincennes.

edwaleni

Interstate highways do attract jobs.

They may not be always big and sexy like a corporate HQ or an Amazon/WalMart distribution center.

I have done research on what the opening of a simple Taco Bell near a small town exit did and believe me it does help.

The biggest impact (even at the Taco Bell level) was it cut down on the amount of travel rural employees have to drive to reach a reasonable non-farm income.

The next big impact was the sales tax revenue the local municipality got along with the rural school district. One school was able to afford computers for the first time.

To some of us, these things look trivial and remote.

When a truck stop opens, it is a municipality bonanza...especially out in the middle of nowhere.

So when you see these small gas station, fast food, Subway/Dairy Queen combos pop up on these small town exits, they do make a difference.

And when they fail, (and many do) it does have an impact that can be felt.

KeithE4Phx

In Bloomington, the west side industrial areas predate what is now I-69, and was the IN 37 bypass, by many years.  The road was opened in 1972, but the original westside companies (GE, Otis Elevator, et al) were there since the 1950s, if not earlier. 

Only south-siders RCA and Sarkes Tarzian, and the near-downtown Showers Brothers furniture factory, weren't located there, at least of the major manufacturing facilities in Bloomington.  Of course, they're all gone now, too.
"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

SkyPesos

#3723
Quote from: edwaleni on May 01, 2021, 08:53:02 PM
I have done research on what the opening of a simple Taco Bell near a small town exit did and believe me it does help.
Did it increase the amount of drivers getting off at the following exit or rest area so they can use the bathroom after eating the food?  :bigass:

Ryctor2018

I look the long way from Chicagoland to Louisville down I-69/SR-37. Future I-69 thru Martinsville is coming along nicely. I noticed the two sign bridges over the future nb I-69 lanes are in place. The nb lanes south of Martinsville could be done by Summer? Even I-465 near the Harding St. exit has much of the land cleared for the future interchange.

Two things that bug me; INDOT still has not signed a control city on northbound I-69 between Evansville & Bloomington. I don't know what they are waiting on. Also, with no rest area on the southern section of I-69 the Country Mart is making a killing. I am surprised BP, Mobil, Shell or another gas station has not setup a gas station/truck stop somewhere between exits 62-27. Such a place could serve as a "rest area", like the station at Crane does now.
2DI's traveled: 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 24, 30, 35, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 49, 55, 57, 59, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 85, 87, 88, 90, 93, 94, 95, 96



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