I-69 opponents plan arguments

Opponents of I-69 in Bloomington vowed not to give up the fight to stop the new-terrain interstate route when the decision was announced in January.\nToday they are organizing their forces.\nCitizens for Appropriate Rural Roads is holding an organizational meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Monroe County Public Library to discuss options and plans for their future fight.\nKevin Enright, Bloomington resident and former Monroe County surveyor from 1997 to 2000, said he will present information at the meeting that the proposed I-69 route through southern Indiana, Kentucky and western Tennessee is longer than existing routes.\nI-69 officials have said the proposed route is a missing link "in a corridor that has a high demand for NAFTA associated goods movement," according to their Feb. 7, 2000, environmental study.\nBut Enright said he did not understand why there was a need to build a new interstate when a shorter one already exists.\nThe "NAFTA superhighway," which is planned to connect Mexico and Canada through the United States, is in the planning stages through most of the states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. \nKentucky is still in the preliminary stages of their planning. They finished their public comment period in late September, but they have not announced a final decision or timeline on their part of the route after Evansville, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Web site.\nThe nationwide route was first approved by Congress as a high-priority corridor from Indianapolis to Memphis, Tenn., in the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act legislation, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation Web site.\nU.S. officials mandated that I-69 serve Evansville, Memphis, Shreveport, Lou., and Houston, Tex., in their legislation.\nBut Enright said he did not understand why Evansville was on the list when a faster route from Indianapolis to Memphis already exists. \nHe said the existing interstate route from Indianapolis to Memphis -- Interstate 70 from Indianapolis to Effingham, Ill., then I-57 south to I-55 in Missouri and south on I-55 to Memphis -- is a distance of 447 miles. But Enright said the proposed I-69 route is a distance of 456 miles, almost nine miles longer.\nThe proposed route follows the Pennyrile Parkway in Kentucky south from Evansville to the Western Kentucky Parkway, Enright said. There it turns west until the road reaches Interstate 24, where it will go south along the Purchase Parkway. \nThere Enright said I-69 is planned to head south into Tennessee, where the route will follow U.S. 51 all the way to the Memphis city limits. \nProponents of the interstate construction have maintained the route will save travel time, Enright said, but he does not see how this is the case because of the longer distance. \n"We have to counter a lot of these arguments that are just statements based on no fact," Enright said. "I think it's important to issue statements that we can back up with facts."\nHe said he hopes to get his findings out to the public at tonight's meeting so they can know the facts of the issue.