The I-69 Ohio River Crossing (ORX) Project Team recently sent letters to 700 property owners letting them know the team will conduct non-invasive surveys and research on their property.
The team is also checking bridges for signs of bats and examining the soil to determine the boundaries of wetlands.
"We also have some mussel survey work that we’ll need to do, but we need the Ohio River to cooperate with us in order to do that work, and it’s not cooperating right now," I-69 ORX spokesperson Mindy Peterson said. "The water levels are high so we haven’t been able to get a crew out on the river."
The research will help the project team recommend one of the three alternative routes. The information will be published in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Peterson said the document will be comprehensive.
"And when I say comprehensive, the DEIS itself will likely be a few hundred pages and then it will have a number of appendices that will be likely hundreds of more pages," she said.
Peterson said the DEIS is on track to come out this fall. A 45-day public comment period and public hearings in Henderson and Evansville will follow its release.
