WOODBURN - Standing at the Indiana-Ohio state line between Woodburn and Antwerp, Ohio, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels saw his vision of the U.S. 24 Fort to Port project come to his state's border.
A new interchange opened connecting Phase 4 in Ohio to Phase 4 in Indiana of the 12-phase, $402 million highway project, marking another step in connecting Fort Wayne to Toledo. Daniels was joined in a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and several officials from both states.
“This is about saving lives. It's about jobs, about hope and about opportunity,” Daniels said. “We're helping ourselves today.”
A 2.9-mile highway-and-interchange section of the new U.S. 24 from Indiana 101 north of Woodburn to the state line is the first piece of the major project to open in Indiana. A 45-mile section of the divided four-lane highway is now open from Indiana 101 to Napoleon, Ohio.
“Investing in transportation is investing in our people,” Strickland said.
An upgrade to U.S. 24 was discussed for decades because of safety concerns, and heavy tractor-trailer and automobile traffic on the two-lane highway. According to a news release from Indiana Rep. Phyllis Pond, R-New Haven, 8,000 vehicles daily use the 11.5-mile stretch of U.S. 24 from Interstate 469 to the state line and 40 accidents occurred there annually from 2002 to 2006.
“The fatalities became too much,” Indiana Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said. “But the money was never there.”
The money became available when Daniels leased the Indiana Toll Road to Cintra-Macquarie, an Australian-Spanish consortium, and used the funds to construct his multibillion-dollar Major Moves jobs and transportation project. Fort to Port is a chief component of that program.
“That took a lot of courage,” Long said.
The Fort to Port stretch of U.S. 24 will be refurbished or newly constructed for an estimated $170 million. Phase 3 is under construction and scheduled for completion next year. Phases 1 and 2, which extend from the interstate bypass to Webster Road, are scheduled to begin construction next year and end in 2012.
The Ohio corridor stretches 58.5 miles and is being constructed in eight phases, five of which are complete. Phases 6, 7 and 8 stretch from just east of Napoleon to near Interstate 475 in Toledo. Those phases are expected to be completed around the same time as Indiana's three phases.
Daniels and Strickland said they would like to meet in a similar ceremony in 2012, when Fort to Port is completed.
