Update on I-69 Extension in Indiana

[mgk920]

I'm going to leave this thought at this, but there is something about that headline....



Mike

[ShawnP]

Louisville has gotten a rise out of this road problem also.

http://www.courier-journal.com/viewart/20120803/NEWS01/308030061/Nudist-campers-worry-Interstate-69-will-ruin-their-solitude

[tdindy88]

I think it is Roselawn in Northwest Indiana that has one, if not several nudist camps, and that town is right next to Interstate 65. All seems to be well up there.

[amroad17]

By looking at the pictures in the article, it looks like they are just changing the 1's to 3's--assuming it is demountable numbers.

Comparing old picture with new, it seems the tab on exit 357 was replaced.

Looks the same to me. The top photo seems to have a dead windshield bug over the 57.

Looking at the comparison photos, yes the exit tabs do look replaced.  They seem to look smaller or more compressed, possibly due to full border around the exit tab itself.  The 3's look a little haphazardly put on though.

[silverback1065]

Indot didnt go with that terrible idea of putting a diamond interchange at sr 37 did they?

[tdindy88]

To answer your question, I'm not sure. I think they are still debating whether or not to do the diamond or the trumpet interchange, though my money is that it will remain a trumpet.

Anyways, on the renumbering front, the conversion of exit numbers in Indianapolis has begun. I took a field trip north on I-69 from Exit 200 up to Exit 203 (I-465 to 96th Street for those playing at home) and saw that on the northbound exits have already had their signs replaced and from my own observations, they are new tabs entirely. The signs themselves were not changed, but since that stretch of highway will be widened as part of the Operation Indy Commute project that won't matter.

The services signs still have the old exit numbers and southbound I-69 from Exit 203 back to 200 haven't been changed yet. In addition, I saw crews in the inside shoulder of I-69 replacing mile markers with several packaged up on the truck (I have never seen them put these things up before so it looked cool.) In any case, I will be heading up to Michigan Thursday night so I'll get to see a full scope as to how this is going on, but word is the signs are being replaced in the Fort Wayne area right now. I'll know more this weekend on how that's going.

[mgk920]

I'm going to leave this thought at this, but there is something about that headline....



Mike

Another thought...

...How long before someone tries to organize a nude roadgeek meet?





Mike

[agentsteel53]

...How long before someone tries to organize a nude roadgeek meet?

what's wrong with that?

it wouldn't be my cup of tea but, given the "unusual interests" thread found elsewhere on this forum, I think it might have enough interest to make it happen.

[qguy]

...How long before someone tries to organize a nude roadgeek meet?

what's wrong with that?

Because for most of us this line from Ian Fleming's first James Bond book, Casino Royale, would apply (Bond is referring to another character):
     "Naked, Bond supposed, he would be an obscene object."   



[Edited for clarity 2110 EDT, 8 Aug 12.]

[silverback1065]

So i-69 is now the longest interstate in indiana? (When it's complete )

[tdindy88]

It will be. Granted it won't be 357 miles long as the exit numbers imply, but it will still be the longest by about 80 miles.

[Alps]

I'm going to leave this thought at this, but there is something about that headline....



Mike

Another thought...

...How long before someone tries to organize a nude roadgeek meet?





Mike

It all goes fine until you get to the first stop...

[mukade]

They are down to Fort Wayne already...

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - INDOT crews have started changing exit sign numbers along I-69 though Fort Wayne.

Early in the morning on Tuesday, a slow changeover began taking place on I-69 in Fort Wayne. Road crews started changing exit sign numbers in the southbound lanes of the interstate, at the first exit to Fort Wayne, Dupont Road. That exit, formerly exit 116, is now exit 316.

Crews change I-69 exit sign numbers (WANE)

[silverback1065]

wow that happened fast

[PurdueBill]

They are down to Fort Wayne already...

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - INDOT crews have started changing exit sign numbers along I-69 though Fort Wayne.

Early in the morning on Tuesday, a slow changeover began taking place on I-69 in Fort Wayne. Road crews started changing exit sign numbers in the southbound lanes of the interstate, at the first exit to Fort Wayne, Dupont Road. That exit, formerly exit 116, is now exit 316.

Crews change I-69 exit sign numbers (WANE)

Some of the comments on that article are very, very amusing.  Number the new road as 569 so as to avoid having to renumber exits?  69 not a valid number in the first place because INDOT should have known all along that the road would eventually include parts west of 65?  Bonkers!!

[silverback1065]

What they could have done is call it i-67 and keep 69 stay from fishers to Michigan

[adt1982]

What they could have done is call it i-67 and keep 69 stay from fishers to Michigan

But it would still be in violation since it is west of I-65.

[silverback1065]

Ahh yes you would be correct. Well make it i-61 or 63

[mukade]

In the INDOT monthly contract letting today, it appears that ES Wagner of Ohio will win the contract to build another section of I-69 in Monroe County ($57.5M bid with an engineer's estimate of $61.5M).

My daughter who drove I-69 north to Fort Wayne today said she saw no exit number tab changes as far as she went (to Coldwater Rd.). So apparently, they must be doing the changes southbound.

[tdindy88]

And I saw them going northbound in Indy yesterday, but not southbound. Weird. I'll just have to see them through my rear-view mirror heading up north.

[PurdueBill]

The ship has already sailed on diagonal routes and out-of-grid.  85 is an offender being diagonal, as is 71, and NC I-74 has blown things open with extensions of existing interstates going off-grid.  (We'll leave I-99 out of this for now....just drove to its northern end last week and what silliness having it end at cross streets less than a mile from I-80, especially right now with construction on I-80 that has a STOP sign facing traffic coming from I-99 trying to merge onto 80.)  61 or 63 might as well be saved for future routes so as to not have those be so far out of grid, and actually now Indy will be nice and symmetrical with two pairs (70/74 and 65/69) coming and going, with the proper positions in the grid to the north and west, and violations to the south and east. 

[mukade]

Coincidentally (or not), the highest exit number in Illinois is exit 357 on I-57.

Of course, Interstate 57 in Illinois, actually is 357 miles long. Sorry, I was trying to make a quick jab at INDOT for their lack of logic.

For another thread, I posted this link from IDOT. If the mileage shown is correct, Illinois actually does the same sort of thing as I-57 is 353 miles long while the highest exit number is 357. I-55 is just under 276 miles, but the highest exit number is 293. I am not sure where it would be hidden - even if they are counting the major concurrencies, it does not add up.

[tdindy88]

I think there is something wrong with the IDOT site, because the distance along I-55 (according to Google Maps) from the Popular Street Bridge at the Mississippi River to Lake Shore Drive in Chicago is 293 miles. Also, the distance along I-57 from the Mississippi River near Cairo to I-57's termius with the Dan Ryan (I-94) is 358 miles.

[NE2]

FHWA's list is also borked, in that the right column includes overlap mileage and the left column double-counts it: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table1.cfm

[mukade]

They probably are not including the I-55 and I-57 concurrencies with I-70 (counting them on I-70). Still, both seem to be a mile or two off. For example, 353 + 6 = 359 and 275.7 + 20 = 296. Not a whole lot, but it looks like mileages are not really an exact science.