State taking control of I69 construction in Bloomington

Indiana is pulling the plug on the contractor in charge of building I-69 from Bloomington to Martinsville.

The state can’t simply fire I-69 Development Partners. The deal to build the highway is a public-private partnership. Instead, the Indiana Finance Authority confirms it’s negotiating to buy out the Spanish developer’s bondholders and finish the project itself.

The latest delay has the road nearly two full years behind schedule.

 State Representative Matt Pierce (D) of Bloomington says it’s the right decision, but says it should have been made a year ago, when the company was reported to be falling behind on payments to subcontractors. He blames former Governor Mike Pence for using the public-private partnership instead of simply floating bonds. And he charges Pence’s administration should have looked more closely at the developer when its bid came in far below other competitors.

Pierce says the lengthy construction has caused accidents, and is affecting Bloomington’s economy, with I-U sports fans and other visitors putting off Bloomington trips rather than deal with the traffic. The I-F-A says four lanes of traffic in the Bloomington area will open on schedule in August, but the rest of the road will take another year.

(story from Network Indiana)