There are some that opine that I-69 will never happen in their lifetime. If those people are still around in two years, they will see the interstate from Crane to Evansville finished.

Earlier this week, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced that construction of the planned interstate will be finished by the time he leaves office in 2012, not 2015 as originally thought.

Friday, INDOT Deputy Commissioner of Major Projects Sam Sarvis said it may be a daunting task, but the road will be finished.

“We are nearing the end of the planning process, and I think we just recognized with the good bid prices that we’ve seen and the opportunity of creating jobs and getting those jobs quicker,” Sarvis said. “It just all fell into place, and we decided to speed it up.”

Sarvis confirmed what Daniels hinted in Boonville on Wednesday that two proposed interchanges, one in northern Pike County and in southern Daviess County, will not be part of INDOT’s recommendation to the federal Department of Transportation. There will be three interchanges in Daviess County, one in Washington, at SR 58 and near the entrance to NSWC Crane.

Earlier this year, interchanges were proposed at CR 375S in Daviess and CR 600N in Pike. During a public hearing on the route in March, several spoke up and asked for the interchange to remain.

The reason for their omission, Sarvis said, was traffic. The amount of traffic that would use the interchange would not be feasible with the expense.

Sarvis did say the possibility of interchanges at both locations could be placed in the future.

“In Pike County, we will buy the right-of-ways for that interchange,” Sarvis said. “We believe there will be a need to build an interchange.”

But not in southern Daviess County.

“If something were to happen in economic development at that interchange, we will start buying right-of-way for that interchange,” Sarvis said.

Also helping move construction along is a change to a design-build method of construction, Sarvis said. In the design-build method, engineers and contractors work together to design closer to where they are building and make construction faster.

“Typically we would design to 100 percent plans, and put it out to a contractor,” Sarvis said. “With design-build, you design about 30 percent of your plans and put it out to a contractor. So you can get that work out to market quicker and they engineer it as they go.”

A design firm is in final negotiations to be selected for Sections 2 and 3, moving from Oakland City to Crane, Sarvis said. In addition to the interchanges, the medians may be narrowed, and a technique called stage pavement will be used.

Janelle Lemon, an I-69 Project Manager, explained stage pavement as instead of planning for 20 years of pavement, the window will be shortened to 10 years and additions will be made as the need arises. Sarvis explained it as building as needed and protecting tax dollars.