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Last updated on Tuesday, February 2, 2016
(MARTINSVILLE) - The four alternate Interstate 69 routes proposed by Indiana Department of Transportation could affect several historic landmarks in Morgan County.
The routes being considered are in addition to the Ind. 37 route from Martinsville to Interstate 465.
Executive Director Greg McCauley says the potential routes could encroach on the Goethe Link Observatory Space Science Center and the bright lights from billboards and businesses.
The potential alternative B route for I-69 West would cross Ind. 67, south of Mooresville at Flagstaff Business Park, which is about a mile from the observatory which is located on a hilltop 4.5 miles south of Mooresville on Ind. 67. The Goethe Link Observatory has been a part of the Morgan County since it was built in 1939 by the Indiana University Department of Astronomy. It is jointly managed by IU, the Indiana Astronomical Society and the Link Observatory Space Science Center.
McCauley has formally requested that route option B be removed from the list of alternative routes due to its negative impact on Link Observatory.
Area resident Clay Jones says routes B or D would go through his barn that dates before the Civil War and disrupt life on their 88-acre historical homestead farm on Jones Way, just off Greencastle Road.
Jones is a member of the Greater Mooresville Advisory Committee that opposes the alternate routes.
For more information on the I-69 project go to in.gov/indot/projects/i69/2346.htm.
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