Bloomington mayor questions I-69 project completion timeline

BLOOMINGTON (WISH) — The mayor of Bloomington is concerned over the completion of the I-69 project.

His concerns come after what he said were several delays in construction and a lack of payment to contractors.

“My constituents and others around here felt the road was closed but we didn’t see enough work being done, well it turns out that payments weren’t being made, so contractors were not doing work,” Mayor John Hamilton said.

“The rating agency and those looking at this project said we’re not on pace to meet June 2017 yet. There’s a 60 day period to prove they can get on pace,” Hamilton added.

The project was originally supposed to be completed by October of this year, but I-69 Development Partners pushed back the date.

“Anything that reduces my commute time is a welcome addition to my life,” Tyler Sparks of Bloomington said.

But with thousands of students coming back to IU on August 22, Hamilton said he wanted more clarification about the project.

“Oh man, it’s going to be bad. All the new students coming in it’s going to be rough. Like 10,000-plus people coming in with their families,” recent IU grad John Swiatek said.

In a statement to 24-Hour News 8, Jim Stark, director of public-private partnerships at Indiana Finance Authority, said the following:

“The developer’s target completion date is June 2017. I-69 development partners indicates that the capabilities are there to make it happen, and we support the developer in holding their contractor accountable to ensure those capabilities are fully realized to meet the scheduled date.”

IFA and the contractor, I-69 Development Partners, proactively set up a meeting with Mayor Hamilton for Aug. 9. The meeting gave the mayor an update and answers to his questions. A regular MPO meeting is scheduled for Friday at 1:30 p.m., where the contractor, I-69 Development Partners, will be giving an update on the project to the committee.