Thursday, December 2, 1999

CONTACTS:

• Andy Knott - Hoosier Environmental Council 317-685-8800
• Thomas Tokarski - Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads 812-825-9555
• John Moore - Environmental Law & Policy Center 312-795-3706

 BLOOMINGTON COUNCIL SAYS "NO" TO I-69

City Council Vote Deals Major Setback to Proposed New Highway

Dealing a major blow to the controversial proposed new Interstate 69 highway, the Bloomington City Council voted last night (Wednesday, December 1) to keep I-69 out of Bloomington.

By a 5-3 margin with one member abstaining, the Council passed a declaration that opposes routing I-69 through Bloomington. A copy of the declaration is attached at the end of this press release.

Bloomington is by far the largest city along the route of the proposed "new-terrain" I-69, which would extend from Indianapolis to Evansville. Opponents of the new highway predicted that the opposition from Bloomington is a knockout blow from which the already unpopular project cannot recover.

They said the Council’s vote, while not legally binding on Governor O’Bannon’s decision where I-69 will go, should be enough to persuade him to pick a much less expensive and less environmentally destructive alternative route via Terre Haute instead of Bloomington. The alternative route uses existing highways -- Interstate 70 and an upgraded US 41 -- instead of building a brand new one.

"With the people of Bloomington saying they don’t want an interstate highway, and with Terre Haute pleading for it, is Governor O’Bannon still going to ram I-69 down Bloomington’s throat?" asked Andy Knott, air and energy policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council.

Supporters of the new-terrain I-69 have pointed to better access to Bloomington and the Indiana University campus there as their main reason for supporting an all-new highway and opposing I-70/US 41, Knott said. Yesterday’s City Council vote eliminates that justification for the new highway by making it unlikely I-69 would go to Bloomington at all, he said.

The Bloomington City Council’s vote followed about two hours of comments from Bloomington residents. 49 citizens spoke against I-69, while only 4 spoke in support of it. Among the concerns that citizens expressed, and that the City Council declaration echoes, are that the new highway would divide Bloomington in two and lead to increased urban sprawl and pollution.

"This is a great victory for democracy," said Thomas Tokarski, president of Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads. "The people of Bloomington do not want I-69, and the City Council listened and responded."

A broad and growing coalition of taxpayers, farmers, conservationists, businesspeople and elected officials oppose the proposed "new terrain" I-69 and support an I-70/US 41 routing instead. The alternative route, which uses existing four-lane highways instead of building a whole new one, would use existing Interstate 70 from Indianapolis to Terre Haute, a bypass around Terre Haute that is already on the drawing board, and US 41 upgraded to an interstate between Terre Haute and Evansville.

I-70/US 41 would save more than $600 million compared to building an all-new highway, yet would be only 10 minutes longer between Indianapolis and Evansville. It would also save thousands of acres of Indiana’s remaining family farms and forests that the new highway would destroy.

Supporters of I-70/US 41 say it’s not worth spending $600 million more of taxpayers’ money, and destroying thousands of acres of farmland and forests, to build a new highway that would save just 10 minutes’ time on the drive from Indianapolis to Evansville.

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