Revive 65 precurser/ warning to Bloomington intersections

Stop I-69 Interstate - COUNT US! County Under New Terrain I-69

Here we share e-mail communications with the Bloomington Herald Times Editor
regarding our personal situation from another INDOT Interstate project, Revive 65.

Bob,

I am forwarding to you some reporting regarding the Revive 65 upgrade at the intersection of I-65 and Easter Boulevard at Clarksville. This is the place of my mother-in-law's serious car accident for consideration. It adds to my sense of the importance for a broader imagining I-69 as it is being planned here.

After our missed meeting opportunity, on Wednesday I read a Newspaper article my mother-in-law's neighbor mailed to us; linked here: http://www.i69tour.org/I65clarksville.html
This intersection has also been reported on Louisville Fox 41 and the Louisville Courier Journal in the past two + weeks I am told.

It is ironic, my connections to this story now, given the similarities to the I-69 section 5 that I see. My 89 year old mother-in-law clawing back, hanging on to life by a thread* since August 15th, a result of the I-65 / Eastern Boulevard "Revive 65" mess that is covered in this Newspaper report.

Quoting that article:

Because of the 40-mile-per-hour speed on the collector road system, and the fact you enter the intersection blind to oncoming traffic, Lee says it's just a matter of time until there is a fatality at the intersection. "The way this thing is designed, the likelihood of someone getting seriously injured or killed is high," she said.

Summer agrees the intersection "Is an area of concern." He went on to say, "The wall design does limit the vision of oncoming traffic," but he says the design was a compromise to save money in the highway's design. "If we were to have built a full cloverleaf interchange, it would have taken a huge amount of land; as much as 10 acres. Because of the design, we were limited on right-of-way and the frontage road had to be designed to deal with the volume of traffic. Ideally we would like to have good sight line distances" Summer said there are sight line concerns at other locations within the scope of the Revive 65 project area because similar design criteria were used.

Design engineers during public meetings called the design concept a "compressed diamond" because of the way the collector roads stay so close to the overpass. Summer said the design created a very limited space on Eastern Boulevard for traffic waiting to turn onto the ramps and ultimately merge with the interstate.

My critical comments regarding the newly proposed section 5 cross sections for I-69 are very much the same. To a lesser extent they are the same with the FEIS version too because of the diamonds and stop lights and lack of local traffic handling and capacity in the near area.

I am sending this to show the real difference that focus and understanding now might make on this infrastructure if it where to ever happen, or be prevented. Also, I want you to realize, my understandings are not only theoretical, my life is currently very effected by INDOT's methods.

John Smith
COUNT US!

*her injuries, 5 broken ribs, a broken clavicle, several broken vertebrae, a punctured lung, a lacerated spleen and a lacerated liver.

Posted 5/5/06

Follow up:

Josephine Knable aged 90, passed away May 5th, 2006 at 2 A.M. She fought back from the brink of death from the car accident at the intersection of I-65 and Eastern Boulevard in Clarksville, Indiana since August 15th 2005. She never regained independence and confinement to a wheel chair and bed quickly contributed to her end.

Daughter Flora France Knable and son-in-law John L. Smith are relieved that her suffering has ended. The family is proud and grateful for the time that she gave us to say everything that needed to be said.

We hope that no other intersections so bad as this one are allowed to take the lives and quality of life of Hoosiers in the future.