IN Plans to Take Control of Highway Project from Private Developer

The state of Indiana is looking to take control of the Interstate 69 Section 5 project  after the public-private partnership for construction seems to be falling apart. The state hired a private developer three years ago to build the 21-mile stretch and then maintain it for 35 years after completion.

To finance Section 5, the state entered into a public-private partnership with I-69 Development Partners who would arrange its own financing to design and build the project. In exchange, the state would make annual payments to I-69 Development Partners to operate and maintain the highway for 35 years after it was built.

However, the P3 project has been faced with trouble as well as pushing back the completion date four times from the original October 31, 2016, completion date. In 2016, some subcontractors stopped working on the project because of late payments from the company I-69 Development Partners hired to design and build Section 5. Inadequate federal permits were blamed for one of the completion deadline extensions.

The Indiana Finance Authority says more than $236 million is still needed to complete the project which now has a revised completion date of August 31, 2018 - nearly two years after the original completion date.

(more on Indiana's plan to take control of the I-69 construction project...)