Bill would let I-69 route use Perry Township

The last leg of the 142-mile I-69 extension could power through the heart of Perry Township under a proposal in the Indiana General Assembly.

Rep. John Price's bill would remove an eight-year-old law that prohibited the highway from being built through the Ind. 37 corridor on Indianapolis' Southside.

Residents, civic leaders and business owners in Perry Township have long opposed the expressway, contending it would harm business along Ind. 37, devalue land and divide the community geographically.

But Price, R-Greenwood, said House Bill 1036 would give the Indiana Department of Transportation the option of running I-69 on the Ind. 37 corridor.

"It does not mean the road will go there," Price said. "It's my intention that this lets the pros at INDOT figure out what the best route is without closing off choices. It puts this route on equal footing with others."

The controversial Evansville-to-Indianapolis highway has been more than 20 years in the making and is about half finished. The stretch from Martinsville to Indianapolis will be the last of six segments to be completed. The interstate would proceed through the Southside until connecting with I-465.

A portion of the road — from Bloomington to Martinsville — is under construction along the Ind. 37 corridor, so the most logical future course would seem to continue it along Ind. 37. But in 2006, Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, shepherded through an amendment that stopped the highway from going through Perry Township.

"I felt it would uproot people in populated areas from their businesses and homes," Miller said. "And it would be costly to the state (in compensation) and lost real estate taxes."

William Boyd, treasurer of the Southwest Perry Civic Association, said a highway would divide the community and kill off businesses along busy Ind. 37.

"You see it all the time where highways go in separates a community geographically because access from one side to the other is limited," Boyd said.

He said businesses left standing along the highway would lose business because highway exits are so far apart.

Will Osgood, owner of Pipers Restaurant, 2130 W. Southport Road, said his business would not be relocated but much of his parking lot would be annexed and the construction alone "would kill my restaurant."

"It would be a nail in the coffin, and we'd be done," Osgood said. "It'd be curtains for us."

Osgood said he was put out of business once by construction on U.S. 31. Although his business sits near a proposed I-69 interchange, he couldn't last long, he said.

Boyd and Price favor a route that would cut through Decatur Township and link with I-70 near Indianapolis International Airport before connecting with I-465.

INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said the agency has not decided what route the interstate would take and that decision is still a couple of years away.

INDOT has just begun a two- to three-year environmental impact review of all route alternatives and has not secured construction funds for whichever path is chosen.

The agency has no preferred route for the final leg of the interstate, and the study panel will have open minds about where it will go, Wingfield said.

"A lot has changed in 10 or 15 years," he said. "There has been development in that segment, and environmental regulations have changed."

The first three segments of I-69, from Evansville to U.S. 231 near the Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, are completed, while the fourth and fifth sections, from Crane through Bloomington to Martinsville, are under construction.

No matter where the highway goes, Price said, someone is going to be upset, and he has empathy for them.

"I have friends along that corridor," he said. "You will always have people who oppose it. There is also a group with some issues."

Price said INDOT has manged to keep the footprint of the highway small, and land acquisition has not been as great as once feared.

"It is not nearly the magnitude of what was talked about originally," he said.

But Miller, whose district includes part of Perry Township, said because business has grown so much along Ind. 37 north of Martinsville in the past 10 years, it would be even more expensive to the state to develop now.

Sen. Brent Waltz, R-Greenwood, who opposes the route through Perry Township, agreed.

"It is cheaper to build through a cornfield than it is through a business park or apartment complex," he said.

Waltz estimated that 300 jobs would be lost or displaced, school bus routes would be disrupted and real estate assessments would suffer, at least until replacement businesses sprouted.

He predicted a rough ride for Price's bill if it makes it to the Senate for consideration because he and Miller sit on the Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings for the project.

"We are the only township with two members on the committee," Waltz said. "I would expect a fairly cold reception."

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter: @john_tuohy.

How I-69 is being built

The 142-mile I-69 extension will link Indianapolis to Evansville and is being built in six sections.

The first three segments, from Evansville to U.S. 231 near the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, are finished. The fourth and fifth sections, from Crane through Bloomington to Martinsville, are under construction.

The last section connects Martinsville to Indianapolis and construction won't begin there at least until an environmental impact study is finished in two to thre e years. No money has yet been set aside for the construction of the segment.