MARTINSVILLE — There was not a cloud in the sky to rain on the Indiana Department of Transportation’s parade.
INDOT Commissioner Joe McGuinness joined Gov. Eric Holcomb, State Sen. Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville and other officials involved with the project in cutting a symbolic ribbon at a northbound entrance ramp to Interstate 69 on the south end of Martinsville. Monday’s ribbon cutting marked the completion of more than half of the Interstate 69 Finish Line project — 17 of 26 miles — which will eventually link the interstate from Evansville to Indianapolis. The $2 billion project is expected to be completed by 2024.
The project has significant implications for Johnson County residents, who have had to travel on State Road 37 through Martinsville, or detour around Martinsville, as they travel southbound to Bloomington and Evansville. While the interstate won’t run through Johnson County until 2023, it has reached the county line.
Drivers can now travel northbound on the interstate through Martinsville to Banta Road, just south of State Road 144, and southbound drivers will be able to do so by the end of the month.
With sections of Interstate 69 in several states, including Texas and Michigan, the project is key in not only linking parts of Indiana, but on a larger scale, the United States, Canada and Mexico, he said.
“I could not be more filled with Hoosier pride than I am this morning, knowing we will be able to leverage our state’s superior location like never before,” Holcomb said. “I went back to 1971 when I-69 was completed from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, 50 years ago. Now we’re knocking on the door to the finish line. It’s about getting to grandma’s house, it’s about commerce. Sometimes we tend to think Martinsville to (Indiana University), to Indianapolis to Fort Wayne or Texas and Michigan. It’s really about connecting three countries and the commerce that goes with it.”
The project was made possible through the tireless efforts of the Indiana Department of Transportation and construction workers, McGuinness said.
“The hard work put in by the INDOT team has been phenomenal,” he said. “We’ve had 1,300 projects around the state this year, but none larger than this one. It was all-hands-on-deck from INDOT all over the state, and the entire project has been incredible.”
Construction will pick-up in Johnson and Marion Counties next spring, INDOT says.
