{Louisville, Kentucky}...Indiana is preparing to pay $255 million to build a tunnel in Kentucky although opponents insist it will be a taxpayer boondoggle. The tunnel will be built to preserve 11 acres of Kentucky woodlands along the Interstate 265 Ohio River bridge that will be built in 2013 because the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Under a deal reached by the two states, Indiana agreed to build the I-265 bridge and tunnel, while Kentucky will expand the existing Interstate 65 bridge to the southwest. Each state will pay about $1.3 billion. Indiana is currently seeking contractors to bore a 1,940-foot-long tunnel under one corner of the 55-acre National Register plot known as the Drumanard property. The project will be the first tunnel the Indiana Department of Transportation has ever built along a highway. Anne Northup, Louisville's congresswoman from 1996 to 2006, says the tunnel is a terrible abuse of taxpayers' money and an outrage in terms of what it accomplishes versus the cost.
