Interstate 69

Skip the background info; jump to the projects already being resisted.

Highway Info

Also known as: NAFTA Superhighway; Trans-Texas Corridor

“The entire I-69 corridor from Michigan to Texas consists of current existing interstate highway segments and potential future highway segments. The length of the current existing segments is approximately 360 miles with 110 miles traversing through urban areas. Currently, the average daily traffic throughout the existing highway segments is about 31,000 with a maximum over 100,000. Average daily truck traffic on the existing highway is approximately 6,500 with a maximum over 8,500. Among the current existing 110 mile urban segments, 12 percent is currently under heavy congestion.

“Without any further improvement to the corridor (no future widening of existing roadway and no new segments are constructed to lengthen the existing highway), the projected 2035 average daily traffic on the current existing highway will be over 90,000 which includes over 19,000 trucks. By 2035, 84 percent urban segments will be under heavy congestion. Congestion for non-urban segments will increase from the current under 1 percent to over 70 percent.

“This application includes freight and passenger movement through a portion of the country that is experiencing both demographic and freight movement growth. The current infrastructure from Texas to Michigan already handles a very large flow of goods and this corridor has the potential to shift cargo patterns to relieve existing and projected congestion along existing routes (e.g., I-40, I-65, I-81). This corridor has already been identified by Congress as a high priority corridor, is one of the farthest along in clearly defining its project list, and has the political support of all the states involved.

—US Department of Transportation, “Corridors of the Future Fact Sheet”

Corridors of the Future Grant

Application submitted by Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department on behalf of the Interstate 69 Steering Committee – including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan. Funding allocated for:

• $800,000 in Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) for an I-69 innovative financing study.

Other project goals include: “This 2,680-mile international and interstate trade corridor extends from Mexico to Canada. From the Mexican border to Indianapolis, Indiana, the proposed corridor would be built on a new location for about 1,660 miles. Many of the states have done some development work, and there are 32 separate segments, all of which are in varying stages of development from acquisition of right-of-way to environmental review and design. Texas has identified its portion as part of the TransTexas Corridor and Indiana has undertaken environmental clearance work.”

NAFTA Superhighway

I-69 is a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) superhighway, already constructed from Canada to Indianapolis and projected to extend down into Mexico. This highway is intended for the mass transportation of goods and resources, to further exploit workers and the land, and to lessen companies’ accountability in terms of human and environmental rights.

As of January 2009, construction has begun in southwestern Indiana. If completed, the highway will evict hundreds of rural families, destroy hundreds of acres of land and devaste the habitats of countless species of animals, many of them already endangered. However, the state has only secured funding for the first two miles of the road. This portion remains uncompleted to date, with funding seriously threatened by the global economic crisis.

As one road opponent said: “We see the start of construction as great opportunity, one for us to respond in intensified struggle. It takes a long time to build a road, especially when there’s only enough money for the first two miles. We’re looking at a fight for at least the next several years, one in which we make it a long hard road for them.”

Through Texas, I-69 forms part of the planned Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) and is known as the “Northeast Texas to Mexico corridor.” It would pass from Texarkana to Houston, then Victoria, where it could branch out to Laredo, McAllen and/or Brownsville via State Highway 44 and U.S. highways 281 and 77. A final environmental impact statement for the Texas portion is expected in late 2008 or early 2009.

The wider TTC is part of a massive plan to reduce freight traffic in Texas (and thereby increase trade with Mexico) with 4,000 miles of new and expanded roads, including toll roads. In January 2009, the Texas Department of Transportation retired the TTC name in an attempt to defuse opposition, but the plan proceeds unaltered.

More Info/Resistance

Companies involved in I-69 have been entered in the Root Force Target Database. Search by zip code or state for an office location near you!

Roadblock Earth First!
roadblockefyahoo (dot) com

Roadblock EF! is encouraging people to help by traveling to Indiana in summer 2008 to resist the highway construction; donating resources; spreading the word; and interacting with the companies responsible for building I-69. Visit the I-69 Media Office for archives of media about I-69 and the resistance to it, and media resources for anti-I-69 affinity groups.