MARTINSVILLE It's easier than ever to speed past Martinsville now that Interstate 69 is complete between Indianapolis and Bloomington. The city wants to provide reasons for people to slow down and stay for a long time.

The Martinsville Redevelopment Commission discussed how to allocate $40 million of tax increment financing on Wednesday morning. Most of the investment is focused east of I-69, which is empty and has potential for new housing.

"I would like to have 1,000 new homes in the city limits," said Martinsville mayor Kenny Costin. "Going back to the flood of 2008, we lost a lot of homes. We lost a lot of students in our school system. We're hoping this is a way to bring those homes back."

Several new subdivisions are already under construction on former farmland near the interstat

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