The purpose of the I-69 project is to build a continuous
highway link designed to interstate highway standards from the Mexican border
to the Canadian border, a route length of approximately 1,650 miles. Throughout
its length, I-69 would connect 16 existing interstate highways (10 east-west
routes and six north-south routes). Within urban areas, development of I-69
could provide the means to upgrade existing interstate routes, connect major
transportation corridors and radial freeways with a new facility and connect
modal and multi-modal terminals to the interstate highway network.

Parts of Indiana

As you might expect with a project over 1,650 miles in
length, sections of the vast transportation route are in various stages of
study, design and construction. One large segment is a 140- to 160-mile portion
from Evansville to Indianapolis, Ind.

Announced by the Indiana Department of Transportation
(INDOT) in December of 1999, an Environmental Impact Study affecting 26
counties was initiated to look at a broad range of alternatives for
constructing this major transportation project.

Bernardin, Lochmueller & Associates Inc. (BLA) of Evansville
was selected to undertake this study as the prime contractor for INDOT,
overseeing a team of 12 subconsultants.

The scope of this single project segment is staggering. It
will cost an estimated $9 million just to complete the study for this Indiana
section. A great deal of the information required to complete the study is
contained in over 170 layers of geographic information system (GIS). The
construction costs for the various alternatives under consideration for this
project segment range from $800 million to over $1.7 billion.

On Oct. 16, 2001, INDOT announced and presented the Draft
Level 2 Alternative Analysis Report. This report is a compilation of
transportation benefits, estimated construction costs and economic benefits on
14 alternative routes that were initially identified for the 140- to 160-mile
segment of I-69.

As part of the environmental analysis, a GIS was developed
with different layers of information. The GIS is used to identify known
geological, ecological, historical and public concern sites. Throughout this
process, the general public has had the opportunity to fully participate in the
study, with over 3,000 people attending various public information meetings and
over 500 providing comments at the meetings. In addition, the project website
has received over 500 messages.

Taking five

The scope of services completed by BLA to get to this point
included, among other things, long-range traffic forecasts, preliminary route
corridor locations, evaluation of preliminary routes for performance on
transportation and economic performance measures, interagency coordination,
environmental data collection, field investigations and major public
presentations.

Based upon analysis of the diverse characteristics of the 14
alternatives and the substantial input from the numerous public meetings held
throughout the state, BLA submitted the Alternative Analysis Report to INDOT.
As a result, INDOT narrowed the 14 available options to five alternative routes
that will receive further detailed environmental analysis.

With the Alternative Analysis Report narrowing the possible
route to five alternatives, level three of the Environmental Impact Statement
is now under way. Brian Litherland, P.E., manager of highway design for BLA,
has already begun the research and data gathering that will go into the next
phase.

“We need to generate an engineering profile for the
various alternatives on this project,” explained Litherland. “We
already have 171 layers of GIS in ESRI’s software. We are also digitizing
USGS’ GIS maps. Using Eagle Point software modules, we designed the
profiles for each alternative.”

Combining the various technologies and digital formats has
been a rewarding challenge for Litherland.

“Our staff has attended training on various aspects of
the software we are using. Eagle Point has conducted specialized implementation
and training courses at our facility to help us manage and analyze all of this
data,” he said.

While Litherland has used the software for seven years, he
requested further training from Eagle Point.

“Coordinating the planning and process for the 50-plus
people that are working on this project was essential,” said Litherland.

Early in the project, Eagle Point’s Drew Leino,
E.I.T., and Steven Goodrich, P.E., traveled to BLA’s Indiana office on
separate occasions to provide training specific to the tasks and needs in the
I-69 project. The training courses allowed Litherland to coordinate the CAD
standards they were using and to more efficiently take advantage of various
enhancements, making the design and analysis process faster and more accurate.
BLA is utilizing nine Eagle Point modules with AutoCAD 2000.

“We completed all of the alignment development and
control in Eagle Point,” Litherland explained. “Within about five
months, we completed the mapping, terrain analysis and determined the various
route combinations that made the most sense. Then we took this information and
placed it in layers in ESRI’s GIS products.”

The next milestone will be the publication of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement. The selection of a preferred corridor is slated
for completion in late 2002.