skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Funding For I-69 To Put The Brakes On Other State Road Projects

play audio
Play

Monday, August 8, 2011   

INDIANAPOLIS - As the state moves forward with Section 4 of the extension of Highway I-69 across southwest Indiana, opposition continues to be raised. The Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) believes current funding methods for the I-69 extension will take away from other Indiana road projects.

Tim Maloney, senior policy director for the Council, says that, now that the $700 million earmarked from the Indiana Toll Road lease has been exhausted, I-69 will require a big chunk of the state's traditional funding budget, and that could edge out other projects.

"We don't think, politically, that the state's going to be able to continue spending this amount on I-69 without creating significant resentment from communities all around the state."

Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) spokesman Will Wingfield says the funding for the latest section of I-69 had not been previously identified.

The HEC favors using the existing I-70 to U.S. 41, the Indianapolis-to-Evansville link. Proponents of the new route say it means construction jobs and will bring new economic possibilities downstate.

Maloney says that, up to this point in construction, money earmarked from the leasing of the Indiana Toll Road has been used to build I-69 from Evansville to the Crane Naval Warfare Center.

"Now, the only source of funding remaining to continue building I-69 is what's called traditional funding."

Maloney says traditional funding is from federal and state gas taxes, and is the general fund for road construction projects all over Indiana. INDOT says $600 million from the Toll Road lease was used for the first three sections of the new Interstate. The remaining $100 million will be used on I-69 in the future.

Maloney says that, with I-69 turning to traditional funding, other projects may see delays.

"For all the roads and bridges that INDOT is responsible for, it turns out over the next several years, I-69 is going to consume about one-fifth of all the available funding."

INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield says states are given discretion to invest those funds, and he says Congress has designated I-69 as a high-priority corridor.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021