Update on I-69 Extension in Indiana

[CtrlAltDel]

Fascinating pictures, as usual.

I am curious about one thing, though. It seems like the beams form their own truck bed for transport, with little wheelies strapped to the back end. Is that true? And if so, what do they do with the wheelies when they're done?

[mgk920]

Fascinating pictures, as usual.

I am curious about one thing, though. It seems like the beams form their own truck bed for transport, with little wheelies strapped to the back end. Is that true? And if so, what do they do with the wheelies when they're done?

That's S.O.P. when transporting those sorts of beams.  IIRC, there is a trailer hitch that they use to transport the empty bogie back, towed by its tractor unit.

Mike

[IndyAgent]

What is the last name on that stone, it looks like GRE..  my last name is Greb and I was curious

[ITB]

What is the last name on that stone, it looks like GRE..  my last name is Greb and I was curious

It's Margaret A Williams Greer, born 10 Jan 1835, died 14 April 1881.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42251580/margaret-a-greer

[edwaleni]

What is the last name on that stone, it looks like GRE..  my last name is Greb and I was curious

It's Margaret A Williams Greer, born 10 Jan 1835, died 14 April 1881.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42251580/margaret-a-greer

There are some people in this cemetery with rich histories. I hope they do not disturb it.

For example a direct descendant of William Bradford, the Governor of Plymouth Plantation and passenger on the Mayflower is buried here along with some Indiana politicians.

[rte66man]

What is the last name on that stone, it looks like GRE..  my last name is Greb and I was curious

It's Margaret A Williams Greer, born 10 Jan 1835, died 14 April 1881.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42251580/margaret-a-greer

There are some people in this cemetery with rich histories. I hope they do not disturb it.

For example a direct descendant of William Bradford, the Governor of Plymouth Plantation and passenger on the Mayflower is buried here along with some Indiana politicians.

I would hope they would at least reset the fallen stones. As a genealogist, it always saddens me to see that.

[ITB]

There are some people in this cemetery with rich histories. I hope they do not disturb it.

The cemetery is well outside the project's right-of-way, so it's quite safe. INDOT has been particularly careful and respectful around sites that have been deemed historic or environmentally fragile, such as wetlands. For example, the new eastern frontage road just north of the I-69/Liberty Church Road interchange in Morgan County, bulbs outward to go around a small family cemetery.

I would hope they would at least reset the fallen stones. As a genealogist, it always saddens me to see that.

Generally, the cemetery seems to be taken care of as the grass appears to regularly mowed. There are few markers that have fallen. The one pictured in the photo set earlier toppled due to tree root growth, which pushed up the ground. I guess that marker could be reset but it could involve chopping down the tree and leveling the ground. It may be best to just let it be. The others, well, it would be nice if they were put properly back in place.

Here again is the map of the Henderson Ford Road interchange and related new frontage roads:


Courtesy INDOT

The Williams Bradford Cemetery is indicated by the three little crosses just to right of the row of red x's located on the eastern (right) side of the mainline. The x's indicate where current pavement, that being a small segment of CR 390 E, will be removed. The extension of Henderson Ford Road from the interchange to its juncture at Egbert and Centennial roads is entirely new roadway. The current state of that construction can be viewed in an earlier set of photos a page or two back. Whether this new segment of roadway will be signed Henderson Ford Road or Centennial Road is, to me, a toss up. The new frontage road jutting off north (top direction) probably will be signed New Harmony Road, as it joins that road just a little further north (not pictured on the map).

Link: INDOT, Section 6 Maps  https://www.in.gov/indot/projects/i69/2345.htm

[ITB]

A few more pictures. Photos were taken Sunday, August 9, 2020, unless otherwise identified.

Bridge and Frontage Road, Stotts Creek work zone, Morgan County, Indiana

Construction of the bridge that will carry New Harmony Road over Stotts Creek in Morgan County, Indiana; looking west. To the right is State Road 37 and a sliver of the northbound mainline bridge over the creek. Stotts Creek merges into the White River just beyond the treeline (right).


Closer look at the work underway at Stotts Creek; looking west. Another cofferdam has be built to allow crews to construct the second bridge pier. It appears two additional piles are to be driven. Note the hose on the left which is attached to a pump to remove any water that accumulates in the cofferdam.


The bridge that carries the northbound lanes of SR 37 over Stotts Creek; looking northwest. As part of the next phase of Section 6 construction, both mainline bridges over Stotts Creek will be replaced with new bridges.


View of State Road 37; looking northeast from near Stotts Creek. Around the bend in the deep background just out of view is the Perry Road overpass work zone.


Closer perspective of SR 37 looking northeast.


Different look of the construction zone at Stotts Creek; looking slightly northeast.


And one more; looking slightly northeast.

More to come.

[ITB]

Photos were taken Sunday, August 9, 2020, unless otherwise identified. To expand the pictures, Right Click, or follow the prompts of your browser, whichever works best for you.


Long range view looking west toward the Henderson Ford Road overpass and future I-69 interchange in Morgan County, Indiana, and the new local frontage road that will link into Henderson Ford Road near the interchange. To get your bearings with the above photos, Stotts Creek is located about 1 1/2 miles north of this overpass.


Closer look at the overpass that will carry Henderson Ford over Interstate 69; looking west. State police have been vigorously enforcing the 45 mph work zone limit in this vicinity, so travelers and commuters be aware.


Another view of the Henderson Ford Road overpass. The road in the foreground on which the red pickup is traveling is Ennis Road.


The railroad crossing on State Road 39 in Martinsville, Indiana; looking east. While most of SR 39 in Martinsville will be widened to accommodate four lanes, due to regulations and time constraints, SR 39 will remain one lane in each direction at this spot. Observing the traffic, I now wonder if it might be better to have one lane in each direction throughout Morton Ave./SR 39 and a center lane dedicated for turns. That way the merge to one lane prior to the railroad tracks will be eliminated, as will the southbound merge prior to the ramp to SR 37/I-69 south of Martinsville proper. It will also allow vehicles to safely cross only one lane of traffic when entering or exiting businesses on one side or the other of Morton Ave./SR 39. Traffic management experts? Feedback?


Another perspective of the SR 39 railroad crossing; looking east.

Shifting focus to an issue affecting all of us, here's a trio of pictures of the Catalent production facility in Bloomington, Indiana. Catalent will be producing two Covid-19 vaccines here. That's right, right in Bloomington. The Moderna vaccine will be produced utilizing an existing production line, while a new building is under construction for the forthcoming Johnson & Johnson vaccine.


Main entrance to the Catalent facility at 1300 S. Patterson Dr. in Bloomington; looking west. Catalent employs more than 1,300 in Bloomington.


View of a section of the Catalent facility showing the new structure under construction for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.


Closer look at the new building that will house the Johnson & Johnson vaccine operations.

Link: Newspaper article related to the Catalent vaccine work: https://www.hoosiertimes.com/free_access/catalent-deal-to-bring-300-new-jobs-to-bloomington/article_eb8857aa-b7b8-11ea-8c37-5b3a04a9041a.html

Link: Catalent, Bloomington, USA: https://www.catalent.com/our-locations/north-america/bloomington-usa/

And to wrap up, a couple more looks of the Stotts Creek work zone in Morgan County.


Pilings for the new frontage road bridge over Stotts Creek; looking slightly northeast.


Another perspective at the Stotts Creek work zone; looking northeast.

[edwaleni]

I am pretty sure I mentioned the bottleneck at the Indiana Southern RR crossing in Martinsville in a prior post.  Seeing that IN-37 will be closed for a year, I think that limiting through traffic in town to reach IN-67 will be a problem.

IN-39 is a 4 lane bridge over the White River...why they simply didn't extend that past the tracks and them move to a center left turn lane once in the city limits to provide traffic calming is beyond me.

Also they should make Morton Ave/IN-39 the through route and force any local left turn traffic back at Garfield. This will permit non-local traffic (which will be a lot) to flow without having to keep a traffic light for Morton to continue. Anyone wanting to reach downtown Martinsville from the NW can turn left at Garfield.

When I-69 reopens to Waverly, then bring the left turn back to Morton.

I guess I am not sure why they are so soft on updating that crossing with ISRR. It hosts 2 coal drags a week. One train is really going to back up the whole town, possibly back onto I-69 itself for traffic coming north.

[seicer]

Bing has some fairly recent images of I-69 showing the completion of work south Martinsville and some work beginning in that town.

[ITB]

Another good weather Sunday, so I headed up to Morgan County for another look-see. Construction is rapidly moving forward. Beams have now been installed for the Egbert Road overpass, and paving has now commenced on the frontage roads. Still a lot to do before work on Contract #3 completes, but it's looking good. Photos were taken Sunday, August 23, 2020, unless otherwise noted. To expand the pictures, Right Click, or follow the steps prompted by your browser, whichever works best.

Egbert Road overpass work zone, Morgan County, Indiana

The Egbert Road overpass in Morgan County, Indiana; looking northeast. Last week the beams for the overpass were put in place. Because of the diagonal angle of the bridge, these beams are among the longest that will be used in Section 6.


Different view of the Egbert Road overpass; looking north.


Another perspective; looking north. Interesting that a drainage culvert has been installed underneath the bridge's west abutment.


The view looking east. Lots of fill work will soon get underway.


And one more look of the overpass; looking east.


Equipment at the Egbert Road overpass work zone; looking east. It's difficult to capture how large the tires are on the machine in the foreground. Think big!

New frontage road north of State Road 44 in Morgan County, Indiana

Paving has commenced on the new service, or frontage, road that juts off north from SR 44; looking north. Since the road connects into Twin Branch Road, it's likely the entire stretch will be signed Twin Branch Road.


Another perspective of the new frontage road near the SR 37/SR 44 intersection; looking north.


The new frontage road where it connects into Twin Branch road; looking north. In the background (where the white car is located) is the E. Morgan Street/SR 37 crossing. Next year when SR 37 is closed just prior to the crossing, the E. Morgan Street/SR 37 access point will remain open for local residents to travel via SR 37 to points north, and likewise return.


Long range view; looking north.


Looking back toward the SR 37/SR 44 intersection in Morgan County, just north of Martinsville; looking south. The intersection is out of view, but is just beyond curve in the background.


The point where the new frontage road intersects with SR 44; looking south. State Road 37 is to the right about a quarter mile away.

Couple more of the Egbert Road overpass work zone.


Looking north toward the new Egbert Road overpass.


Crane attachments and cables at the Egbert Road work zone; looking east.

That's all for now. It's now less than three months before Contract #4 is let. That's the contract for mainline work from Martinsville to Fairview Road in Johnson County, and encompasses interchanges at SR 144, Smith Valley Road, and the interchange ramps at Henderson Ford Road in Morgan County, as well as overpasses at Teeter Road and Myra Lane. If the letting goes as planned, work should commence in the spring of 2021.

[mvak36]

That's all for now. It's now less than three months before Contract #4 is let. That's the contract for mainline work from Martinsville to Fairview Road in Johnson County, and encompasses interchanges at SR 144, Smith Valley Road, and the interchange ramps at Henderson Ford Road in Morgan County, as well as overpasses at Teeter Road and Myra Lane. If the letting goes as planned, work should commence in the spring of 2021.

Thank You for the pics. I saw another tweet last week saying that they will also be letting Contract #5 this year as well, so that will be good.

https://twitter.com/I69FinishLine/status/1296439463422328832

[ITB]

Brief update with a few pictures. Construction of the four new overpasses over State Road 37 in Morgan County, as well as several miles of new local access roads, continues to rapidly move forward. Beams have been set at each of the bridges that will carry Egbert Road, Henderson Ford Road, Perry Road, and Waverly Road, respectfully. According to INDOT's September 4th I-69 Finish Line update (link below), all of the new overpasses are expected to be completed this fall. Work also continues on the southbound mainline bridge crossing Indian Creek, and beams are to set there next week. Work is steadily progressing, too, on the upgrading of Morton Avenue and SR 39 in Martinsville.

To the pictures. Photos were taken Sunday, September 13, 2020, unless otherwise noted.

Waverly Road work zone, Morgan County, Indiana

The bridge that will carry Waverly Road over State Road 37 (future Interstate 69) in northern Morgan County, Indiana; looking slightly southwest.


Bridge beams of the Waverly Road overpass; looking south.


Close up of a bridge beam and bearing at Waverly. Haven't seen this type of bearing used before. Because of the loads it will be carrying I imagine it's a steel alloy. A bit of titanium, perhaps?


Another perspective of the Waverly Road overpass; looking slightly southeast.


Steel corrugated culvert under the north roadway approach to the Waverly Road overpass; looking west. In a earlier set of photos (back a couple pages), there's a picture of an old concrete culvert at Waverly. I speculated they would dig it up, and, yes, that's what happened. This is what is replacing that old culvert.


View of the work zone at Waverly Road; looking south. The tip of the tube culvert pictured above is visible adjacent to the front end loader (expand the photo for a better look).


A one more look at the Waverly Road bridge; looking southwest.

Henderson Ford Road work zone, Morgan County

The north roundabout at the future Henderson Ford Road/Interstate 69 interchange in Morgan County, Indiana; looking east. In the background is State Road 37.


Looking east toward State Road 37 (future Interstate 69) from the recently poured deck of the Henderson Ford Road overpass.


The bridge deck of the Henderson Ford Road. On the right is rebar framing for a wide multi-use, concrete sidewalk.


Closer look at SR 37 with the telephoto lens; from the Henderson Ford Road overpass; looking east. The new frontage road that will link into the future I-69/Henderson Ford Road interchange is on the right.


The Henderson Ford Road bridge deck and new terrain road that will intersect with Egbert Road further on (but out of view); looking south. Looks like there will be some sort of lane divider on the bridge.


Another long range view looking east toward State Road 37. The ramps for the Henderson Ford Road/I-69 interchange will be constructed under another construction contract, which is planned to be let November 18, 2020.


And one last one showing again the north roundabout at the Henderson Ford Road work zone; looking east.

Links: The two most recent INDOT I-69 Finish Line updates:

https://i69finishline.com/news/on-track-update-september-14-2020/
https://i69finishline.com/news/on-track-update-september-8/

Because the terrain north of Martinsville is significantly less hilly, in other words, generally flat, it's more of a challenge to take dramatic, expansive views of I-69 construction. Nevertheless, I continue to hunt for new locations and perspectives to take interesting pictures. It is my hope to continue to document the construction and completion of Section 6, but I cannot say for certain I will be able to do so. As some of you know, I was born in Indiana – in Johnson County Memorial Hospital to be exact, which is now called Johnson Memorial Health – and have lived in the state for most of my life, aside from a number of years in California and other states when young, and later in the Washington, DC area. So I have deep connection with Indiana; it is home and always will be. During the past few years, thanks to this site and its many knowledgeable members, I have become much more interested in all things roads.

In addition to the I-69 construction photos, for the past couple of years I've been taking photos of life in southern Indiana, it's people, festivals, and small towns. If interested, please check out my other Flickr page at the following:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/183675816@N07/

It's only two months until the next Section 6 contract is to be let. If all goes as planned with the letting, construction to upgrade SR 37 between Martinsville and Fairview Road in Johnson County will likely get underway in the early spring of 2021. The final Section 6 contract has yet to be loaded on INDOT's 18-month letting list, so it appears that contract is still not quite ready to be released. Nonetheless, that contact is likely to be let in either late 2020 or early 2021.

Edit: Swapped out a double posted photo for another; minor edits for grammar and readability.

[tdindy88]

I've seen the latest contract is now out and took a look through the signage plans for I-69 from north of Martinsville to Smith Valley Road. This stuff just interests me. I have an image of the signs as I cropped them out of the various PDF documents they're in.



All and all the signs look pretty good and standard. Control cities are clearly Indianapolis and Evansville and mileage signs (INDOT-spec signs from what it seems here) do reflect that. Curiously the SR 144 exit sign doesn't get signed as SR 144 WEST as it should since east of the exit is a county road but it's not a huge deal. The Martinsville exits sign is also interesting, playing on the current Martinsville intersections sign that exists. The only thing that I would have wanted to add, speaking for I-69 in Morgan County in general, is for signage designating Franklin at Exit 140 in Martinsville (there's none planned at that exit now) and for signage along I-69 north of SR 144 designating Greenwood for the next two exits as is used elsewhere. There could also be a mileage sign north of Smith Valley similar to what they have on I-69 on the north side. Just randomly thinking late this Sunday night.

There's a planned travel time sign for northbound I-69 with Southport Road and I-465. I assume there will be a southbound version between I-465 and Southport Road, probably with County Line Road and SR 144 as destinations. Speculating as well, there will be a pair of VMSs on I-69 between Smith Valley and SR 144. The southbound VMS could have the travel times to SR 144, SR 44 and SR 46. Or maybe even SR 44, SR 46 and I-64! The northbound VMS could have time and distance to the 465 junctions with I-65 on the south side and I-70 on the west side.

I'm still waiting to see if the mileage signs begin to be installed along I-69 south of Bloomington since we're doing it on the rest of the interstate, no reason to not have them now.

[Scott5114]

That mixed-case North and South on the last sign on the first row and the first sign on the second row isn't great, though...

[tdindy88]

Those signs could always be changed before the end. It wouldn't be the first time they had signs like that in Indiana: https://goo.gl/maps/UB8ewX3byYpaXwZx8

Worst case scenario, it's an error that makes it a one-off thing. The other two control city signs (the ones in black and white) are far more the rule and both the SR 144 and Smith Valley interchanges will feature signs like that.

[IndyAgent]

I would like to see how the 44/252 exit will look like, that will be a long exit ramp

[tdindy88]

You can see it here: https://i69finishline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Contracts-1-and-2.pdf

[Life in Paradise]

Concerning the signs, I was surprised in seeing the I-69/IN-37 sign.  I thought that INDOT was going to drop marking IN-37 from Bloomington to Indianapolis to create yet another gap in a state highway, but there it is on their sign plan.

[edwaleni]

Concerning the signs, I was surprised in seeing the I-69/IN-37 sign.  I thought that INDOT was going to drop marking IN-37 from Bloomington to Indianapolis to create yet another gap in a state highway, but there it is on their sign plan.

IN-37 I would imagine will exist (at minimum) until the entire construction period is exhausted.

Then they will go back and and remove the emblem. Probably about 12 months after I-69 is finished.

[X99]

The single exit sign for SR 44 and 252 makes it seem like one of those two interchanges is being removed since one could serve both roads. Is that the case, or are both interchanges still in the plans?

[hockeyjohn]

It appears "Mooresville" is misspelled on the black and white SR 144 exit sign in the second row.

[silverback1065]

The single exit sign for SR 44 and 252 makes it seem like one of those two interchanges is being removed since one could serve both roads. Is that the case, or are both interchanges still in the plans?

i think it's a split diamond with connecting roads.

[sturmde]

The single exit sign for SR 44 and 252 makes it seem like one of those two interchanges is being removed since one could serve both roads. Is that the case, or are both interchanges still in the plans?

i think it's a split diamond with connecting roads.

Thought it was a stretch with a C/D through two consecutive diamonds where there are still two exits, but you exit at once for both of them.