Posey County, Indiana officials broke ground Monday on the long-planned Western Bypass around Mt. Vernon. Being built by the county, the new road will begin at the northern end of the existing SR 69 bypass north of Mt. Vernon and work southwesterly toward the SR 62/69 west junction near SABIC's plastics factory.
Work is expected to take about 2 1/2 years to complete, with three phases.
Stories from local media:
WEHT/WTVW (https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/posey-county-holds-groundbreaking-for-western-bypass-nearly-12-years-in-the-making/)
WFIE (https://www.14news.com/2024/08/19/its-game-changer-posey-co-breaks-ground-long-awaited-western-bypass/)
WEVV (https://www.wevv.com/news/new-bypass-in-posey-county-hopes-to-easy-traffic-back-ups-in-downtown-mt-vernon/article_f789659e-5a3e-11ef-9d89-43031d5e3421.html)
Map of the new bypass (https://www.poseycountyin.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Posey_Roll_Plot_Board_LargePoster-1.pdf)
I am expecting a rerouting of SR-69 onto this new alignment... The current alignment does not make any sense!
Quote from: Great Lakes Roads on August 19, 2024, 11:01:07 PMI am expecting a rerouting of SR-69 onto this new alignment... The current alignment does not make any sense!
That would partly make sense since IN 69 already extends south from IN 62 at the proposed new intersection with the bypass. On the other hand, one of the reasons for completing the eastern bypass first (and also extending IN 69 from New Harmony to I-64) was to facilitate truck traffic to the Southwind Port on the east side of Mt. Vernon, and to lessen the number of trucks in that city. They have been talking about this since my days working in radio there in the 1980s. My guess is that the entire bypass will remain a state highway perhaps one of the legs being IN-169 etc. I don't think Mt. Vernon would allow IN-62 to go on the entire bypass and Posey County/Mt. Vernon accept responsibility for IN-62 within the bypass endpoints. Still way too much traffic.
Quote from: jnewkirk77 on August 19, 2024, 10:58:41 PMPosey County, Indiana officials broke ground Monday on the long-planned Western Bypass around Mt. Vernon. Being built by the county, the new road will begin at the northern end of the existing SR 69 bypass north of Mt. Vernon and work southwesterly toward the SR 62/69 west junction near SABIC's plastics factory.
Work is expected to take about 2 1/2 years to complete, with three phases.
Stories from local media:
WEHT/WTVW (https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/posey-county-holds-groundbreaking-for-western-bypass-nearly-12-years-in-the-making/)
WFIE (https://www.14news.com/2024/08/19/its-game-changer-posey-co-breaks-ground-long-awaited-western-bypass/)
WEVV (https://www.wevv.com/news/new-bypass-in-posey-county-hopes-to-easy-traffic-back-ups-in-downtown-mt-vernon/article_f789659e-5a3e-11ef-9d89-43031d5e3421.html)
Map of the new bypass (https://www.poseycountyin.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Posey_Roll_Plot_Board_LargePoster-1.pdf)
Well, heck, if I had seen this post beforehand I wouldn't have posted about this in the Indiana Notes sub-forum. And, now, I'd prefer not remove it as there's been two replies.
Of interest, one of the driving forces propelling the Western Bypass project forward (https://www.14news.com/2021/06/15/midwest-fertilizer-moving-forward-with-plans-posey-co-plant/) is a new $2.4 billion fertilizer plant (http://www.midwest-fertilizer.com/) on the west side of Mount Vernon.