Tag: I-69

Big thunderstorm slams into Monroe County, knocks out power to 45K electric utility customers

Duke outage map as of 5:06 p.m. on June 25, 2024.
The view of Bloomington’s city hall around 4 p.m. onJune 25, 2024
View of Janko’s Little Zagreb awning just after the storm blew through on June 25, 2024.
A little leaf linden street tree fell on a car parked on 6th Street between Morton Street and College Avenue on June 25, 2024.
American linden tree split off and blocked two lanes of traffic on Colleage Avenue across from the Monroe County courthouse on June 25, 2024.

Around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, a thunderstorm packing winds that were reported to the National Weather Service as gusting up to 78 mph smacked into Monroe County from the west.

The storm left at least 45,000 electric utilities customers without power, once the nearly 2,000 South Central Indiana REMC  ratepayers were added to the 43,000 Duke Energy customers who were disconnected.

As of 8:20 p.m. The B Square was not able to find any areas on Duke Energy’s outage map that showed estimates for the time when power would be restored. [Updated: As of 10:30 a.m. on June 26, 2024 the word from Duke Energy is that they are still assessing damage and should have more information later in the day.]

The two-block stretch between Bloomington’s city hall and the Monroe County courthouse in downtown Bloomington showed clear evidence of the storm’s impact. Continue reading “Big thunderstorm slams into Monroe County, knocks out power to 45K electric utility customers” →

New jail location: Monroe County OKs Phase 2 enviro study, hears opposition from Ellettsville

On the map, the green area is the land purchased by the county for a future limestone heritage destination park. The purple pushpin shows the location of the current jail. The other purple areas are currently or have at one time been considered by county commissioners as a jail location. Link to dynamic map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1ZfbkZoG4GR7KAjii4CVQLtv4hIlUQuM&usp=sharing
Seated at the table from left:Scott Carnegie with DLZ, the county’s design/build consultant, and the three commissioners, Julie Thomas, Lee Jones and Penny Githens. (June 2, 2024)

This past Wednesday, Monroe County commissioners approved a second environmental study for North Park on West Hunter Valley Road, just north of the Bloomington city boundary.

North Park is the location that commissioners are currently considering as a possible location for a new jail.

The Phase 2 study comes after two public meetings held at the Ellettsville fire station—last Sunday (June 2) and Wednesday June 5)—which were hosted by county commissioners.

The fire station meetings confirmed some strong opposition from residents near the proposed jail location. Highlights from the meetings included opposition from Ellettsville leaders, who are concerned that locating a county jail at North Park will have a negative impact on the future economic development of the town.

The meetings also revealed that county elected officials might not have been on the same page on a key question: Who will decide the size of the new jail? Continue reading “New jail location: Monroe County OKs Phase 2 enviro study, hears opposition from Ellettsville” →

SR 46 & I-69 crash: Driver charged with reckless homicide, Bloomington police say 46-year old woman was intoxicated when she crashed SUV into truck

In a news release issued Tuesday afternoon, Bloomington police reported the outcome of their investigation into a crash on Saturday (Aug. 6), which took place at the intersection of SR 46 and the southbound entrance ramp to I-69, on the northwest edge of the city.

On Tuesday, police arrested Charity D. Hall, a 46-year-old Bloomington resident, as soon as she was released from the IU Health Bloomington hospital, where she had been taken for treatment of her crash-related injuries three days earlier.

According to the news release, Hall was taken taken to the Monroe County jail, and charged with several crimes: Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Death (level 4 felony); Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Catastrophic Injury (level 4 felony); Reckless Homicide (level 5 felony); Battery Against a Public Safety Official (level 6 felony); and Resisting Law Enforcement (class A misdemeanor).

Hall is alleged to have driven her Toyota 4Runner sport utility vehicle eastbound on SR 46 through the intersection of the southbound onramp to I-69 without stopping at the red light. The news release says she crashed into the passenger side of a teal Chevrolet S-10 pickup that had a green arrow for its left turn from SR 46 westbound onto the southbound onramp to I-69, according to the news release. Continue reading “SR 46 & I-69 crash: Driver charged with reckless homicide, Bloomington police say 46-year old woman was intoxicated when she crashed SUV into truck” →

Encampment on county-owned land: Local disaster declared by Monroe County commissioners

The aerial image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system.
Photo taken during cleanup activity at the encampment.

An encampment on county-owned land west of Bloomington has prompted action by the Monroe County board of commissioners two Wednesdays in a row.

Last week, commissioners added to their agenda a contract with Bio-One, which is an Indianapolis-based company specializing in “extreme cleaning.”

The $3,500-per-day contract  covered clearing out the trash and debris that was expected to be left behind, after the sheriff’s office enforced an order to vacate the encampment, which was located behind the At Home store, just west of I-69.

But the cleanup that started last Thursday, the day after Bio-One’s contract was approved, turned out to require more work than expected.

So at this Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners voted to extend Bio-One’s contract another 15 days for a total of 20 days, which could cost as much as $70,000.

In other related action this Wednesday, commissioners invoked a state statute to declare an emergency—in order to speed up the process for hiring a contractor to clear trees under 12 inches in diameter, undergrowth and underbrush on the property.  The idea is to improve lines of sight into the property, to monitor for future  encampments.

Under IC 5-16-1-1.6, commissioners don’t need to advertise for bids, but do have to invite quotes from at least three firms. Administrator for the commissioners, Angie Purdie, is authorized in the emergency declaration, to execute the lowest quote that is received by Thursday at 9 a.m. Continue reading “Encampment on county-owned land: Local disaster declared by Monroe County commissioners” →