Interstate 69 in Indiana
The original plan (in a DEIS prepared by INDOT in 2004, but later dropped) was for I-69 to leave the now-former I-164 alignment somewhere just east of Green River Road (exit 3) and head south (instead of turning west with I-164) for approximately before crossing the Ohio at a point near the mouth of the Green River. This portion of the route had not then been funded, as construction of the new Ohio River crossing and its approaches in both states was expected to cost approximately $800 million. Indiana and Kentucky officials had said construction on the new Ohio River Bridge would not begin until at least 2020, after two new crossings near Louisville were completed. With Indiana then preparing to break ground on SIU 3, Kentucky officials indicated that collecting tolls might be the only feasible option for completing the I-69 bridge, as traditional federal and state funding for such projects were drying up. , neither Kentucky nor Indiana officials had yet come up with the money to plan and construct this I-69 bridge.
List of gaps in Interstate Highways
I-69 has seven sections: the original alignment travels from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Port Huron, Michigan. On October 2, 2006, a segment of I-69 opened in Tunica and DeSoto counties in Mississippi; this segment continues to Memphis, Tennessee, in the north. Another section exists from near Evansville, Indiana, to Martinsville, Indiana; this section is expected to be connected to the original I-69 in Indianapolis in the next decade. In stages from 2011 to 2018, sections of the Purchase Parkway, I-24, the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway, and the Pennyrile Parkway from Mayfield, Kentucky to Henderson, Kentucky became signed as I-69. In 2012, a portion of U.S. Highway 59 (US 59) between Houston and Cleveland, Texas, became part of I-69. On February 28, 2013, a portion of US 59 between Houston and Rosenberg, Texas, became part of I-69. This gap was bridged by the signing of the portion between the two segments of US 59 as I-69 in March 2015.