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Section of I-69 extension won’t be complete until June 2017

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) – State highway officials have pushed back the expected completion date for a section of southern Indiana’s Interstate 69 extension by at least eight months.

The (Bloomington) Herald-Times reports that developers initially expected to complete the 21-mile stretch between Bloomington and Martinsville by October 2016. But now the section of highway isn’t expected to be completed until late June 2017.

Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Will Wingfield says the delay will not affect the cost of the project for taxpayers.

I-69 Development Partners was hired by the department to design, build and finance the section of highway.

The newspaper’s attempts for comment were unsuccessful Tuesday. An I-69 Development Partners official said last week that disputes between the contractor and its subcontractors halted some work on the project.