IN: US 24 "Fort to Port" Upgrade report

[mukade]

As the construction season winds down, progress on the US 24 upgrade in eastern Allen County can be seen. The good news is that the connection from the new expressway to the existing road at the I-469 interchange is mostly done. Going east, it looks like some shoulder paving is still going on. Then, it looks like there may have been a problem. A short section right where the new roadway diverges from the old path, there is still earth moving going on. I thought that stretch was paved last year with only a bridge remaining to be built, but the bridge is still yet to be completed. Possibly bad soil?

After that short section, the paved roadway again picks up and connects to the existing freeway/expressway. Items noted:

• Webster Road in Woodlan has been rerouted between old 24 and the new interchange at the US 24 freeway (a big improvement)
• The "low level" interchange at Bruick Road is graded, but not paved. It looks like it has two short ramps
• The unopened part of east end (west of the SR 101 interchange) appears to be totally done including signage and lane markings

Despite the road apparently being built to full freeway standards from Bruick Road east to the Ohio line, INDOT seems to consider this an expressway. Thus the speed limit is 60 MPH. It looks like there will be no at grade intersections east of the I-469 interchange (which has traffic lights). The road looks to be PCCP except for the area around the Webster Road interchange (where they seem to be getting fill for the problem area).

An interesting editorial about the Fort to Port Highway recently appeared in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette entitled Highway for the heartland.


Just east of I-469, the new road already connects with the old


Ramp at Bruick Road interchange


Paving the shoulder near Bruick Road


A mile or two east, they are still moving earth


Bull Rapids Rd overpass a mile or so west of SR 101


Looking east to SR 101 interchange from Bull Rapids Rd overpass


Getting fill from the northwest quadrant of the Webster Road interchange which was completed last year

[FLRoads]

Funny you posted this a day after we went through there on our way back to Florida. All we saw was the beginning of the expressway east of the I-469 interchange. Hard to believe that INDOT is going to sign that with a 60 MPH speed limit. Will they eventually upgrade the interchange with I-469 with high speed ramps for U.S. 24 to get rid of the current traffic signals on the east side?

[mukade]

As for the I-469 interchange, there were plans to improve it, but in the interest of getting more miles built, INDOT seems to have scaled back on some interchanges - especially expensive ones. The US 31/US 20 south interchange in South Bend was to have flyovers, but instead will remain as a cloverleaf for now. Also, the I-465/I-69 northwest interchange in Indy also seems to have been delayed. Finally, I-69 in southern Indiana is being built with at least three interchanges missing for now (they bought the land for them, however). With so many miles of new freeway and expressway under construction, I guess it is a relatively small price.

The 60 MPH limit on the existing section puzzles me. I guess we'll see for sure when it all opens.

[JREwing78]

It seems rather ridiculous to sign that for only 60mph. US-30 west of Fort Wayne is a much narrower road with less ROW, and of course cross-traffic and stop lights galore. Still posted for 60.

It's certainly going to become Indiana's newest speed trap at this rate.

[mukade]

I compared the photos I have taken on 7/3/2011 to the ones taken on 11/8/2011. So these pairs were taken four months apart, and you can see both backward and excellent progress.


Before - Notice this was paved back then

After - new pavement is gone, and does this look higher now?


Before: Bruick Rd. bridge

After


Before: just east of I-469

After: built up and paved

[sandwalk]

This highway is great!  Growing up, my family utilized Route 6 and Route 24 from north central Ohio to get to I-69 to Fort Wayne and ultimately further south to visit relatives in central Indiana.

After I-469 was built, we didn't think it would get any better.  But alas, US 24 is an important corridor and will create a safe driving environment.  The one thing I will miss along the way is the A&W Root Beer stand in Antwerp, Ohio.....always loved to stop there

[realjd]

When I was younger, I drove that stretch of US-24 many times. My friends and I (from Fort Wayne) had annual passes to Cedar Point and our preferred route was US-24 to US-6. I would have appreciated the freeway back then. We usually took the Turnpike to I-69 on the way home to avoid deer infested 2-lane roads at night even though it added time to the trip back.

As for the 60mph speed limit, I moved not too long after the increased speed limits took effect, but I don't remember Indiana signing any stretch of non-interstate above 55 (back then - 60 now) even if it was built to interstate standards. Are there any state or US highways in Indiana signed above 60 at all?

[mukade]

I believe US 20 in South Bend currently has a 65 speed limit. Not sure about the part that goes north and south (US 31/US 20). Kokomo US 31 will also have 65 according to plans.

US 24 also doesn't seem to have exit numbers based on the signs in place. SR 912 is the only current non-interstate freeway in Indiana with them, but Kokomo US 31 will. I haven't been able to find detailed plans for the other US 31 sections, but I imagine they also will.

[NE2]

SR 912 is the only current non-interstate freeway in Indiana with them

Unless you count SR 265.

[NWI_Irish96]

SR 912 is the only current non-interstate freeway in Indiana with them

Unless you count SR 265.

The portion of 265 that is signed as I-265 has exit numbers, but the portion signed as IN265 does not.

Also, to answer mukade's question, the entire US20/31 bypass has a speed limit of 65 from the Michigan state line all the way to Elkhart CR 17.

[NE2]

The portion of 265 that is signed as I-265 has exit numbers, but the portion signed as IN265 does not.

Have the numbers been removed? http://highwayexplorer.com/Gallery.php?id=2410&section=12651&terminus=Eastern+Terminus

[NWI_Irish96]

Nope, I just checked and they are still there.  Don't know why I though there weren't any there.

[mukade]

Update on the backward progress on the Fort to Port:

The destruction of the new asphalt pavement on the new US 24 expressway east of Fort Wayne is continuing. The pavement on the mainline and at the interchange at Webster Road looks like it will all be removed for a length of two miles or so. Even the bridge over a creek just east of Bruick Road was removed and is being rebuilt. The map in the link below shows the asphalt pavement as it existed approximately a year ago. Today, most of that is gone, but the excavated area immediately west all the way to I-469 is now  built and paved in concrete.

Google Map of US 24 around Webster Rd. east of Fort Wayne






Other interesting US 24 notes:
- the new cantilevered directional signs at Webster Rd are "Illinois style"



- the "low level interchange" at Bruick Road is mostly done, and this is definitely not up to Interstate standards although everything east of there in Indiana looks like it is





Other Fort Wayne area notes:
- the I-69 interchange at Union Chapel Road is under construction
- the new rest area on I-69 north of Union Chapel Road is well along and looks like it should open this summer

[JREwing78]

Craziness.

Failed Fort to Port stretch to be redone
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120107/LOCAL/301079979

I see the Bruick Rd exit area is a bit squeezed in, and this ramp arrangement would be desirable to cut down on property acquisition. But they also took out everything immediately south of the existing US-24. Would taking out an extra property or two have made that much of a difference?

[mukade]

Current US 24 will be a two-way frontage road so options westbound are limited. I guess the best you can say for the arrangement is that there will be no cross traffic or left turns off the new road.

As for the problems with the soil, that wouldn't explain why they're replacing that bridge. It seems to me like they raised the grade of the roadway, and it seemed like the original grade was too low. Anyway, I wonder if the new pavement will be PCCP like the rest of the road.

[mgk920]

There are a couple of short stretches of WI 29 between Wittenburg and Wausau, WI that are surfaced in asphalt due to the marshy/boggy nature of the subsoil underneath, even though all of the rest of WI 29 between US 41 at Green Bay and I-94 west of Eau Claire, WI is paved with concrete.

Mike

[JREwing78]

They did something similar on US 12/18 just east of Madison.

[tdindy88]

Saw this on the following thread https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6658.0.

INDOT is asking AASHTO to reroute US 24 from the current two-lane road to the new freeway east of Fort Wayne, but no surprise there. What was a surprise, to me anyway, is that they also want to reroute US 24 to the north side of Fort Wayne taking I-69 north from Exit 102 to Exit 115 and then taking I-469 southeast to the Exit 21.

[mukade]

I think the new freeway part was approved before, but the northern route along I-469 is new. That new routing will get rid of a wrong-way multiplex (US 30 WB=US 24 EB along I-469 now). Personally, I would favor handling concurrent routes it like they do in Indy.

[Alps]

I think the new freeway part was approved before, but the northern route along I-469 is new. That new routing will get rid of a wrong-way multiplex (US 30 WB=US 24 EB along I-469 now). Personally, I would favor handling concurrent routes it like they do in Indy.

Makes a hell of a lot more sense than the current routing, where you save a bunch of miles by heading straight off the end of 469.

[mukade]

I think the new freeway part was approved before, but the northern route along I-469 is new. That new routing will get rid of a wrong-way multiplex (US 30 WB=US 24 EB along I-469 now). Personally, I would favor handling concurrent routes it like they do in Indy.

Makes a hell of a lot more sense than the current routing, where you save a bunch of miles by heading straight off the end of 469.

True. Too bad the shortcut is a really crappy road.

[Alps]

I think the new freeway part was approved before, but the northern route along I-469 is new. That new routing will get rid of a wrong-way multiplex (US 30 WB=US 24 EB along I-469 now). Personally, I would favor handling concurrent routes it like they do in Indy.

Makes a hell of a lot more sense than the current routing, where you save a bunch of miles by heading straight off the end of 469.

True. Too bad the shortcut is a really crappy road.

In what sense? I see a paved two-lane with a center stripe. That's a luxury on a side road.

[PurdueBill]

I think the new freeway part was approved before, but the northern route along I-469 is new. That new routing will get rid of a wrong-way multiplex (US 30 WB=US 24 EB along I-469 now). Personally, I would favor handling concurrent routes it like they do in Indy.

Makes a hell of a lot more sense than the current routing, where you save a bunch of miles by heading straight off the end of 469.

True. Too bad the shortcut is a really crappy road.

I drive out that way frequently and Lafayette Center Road (in Allen County) and 900 N (Huntington County) is THE way to cut 10 miles off the trip.  Following posted US 24 is 10 extra miles, and using the county roads with a 45 mph limit (moves at ~50, don't go faster because sometimes there is a local cop or sheriff occasionally sitting somewhere) is no problem.  The only issue is the railroad crossing; one time there was a train stopped across it and the only recourse was to either retrace and follow posted US 24 (if you didn't have a map or know the back roads) or use some other roads that get you around it.  That has happened once in dozens and dozens of trips that way.  Posted US 24 goes out of the way and involves extra signals and congestion.

INDOT even has a sign posted on US 24 eastbound approaching 900 N pointing that way for the Fort Wayne Airport....they actually direct you across 900N and Lafayette Center Road to 469, where you are back on 24 again but saved 10 miles. 

[JREwing78]

Okay, I'll ask the question that's on everyone else's minds: Why the hell not just extend a US-24 expressway east from the southern 69/469 interchange to the existing route at Roanoke? Cost?

[mukade]

I think anyone who has looked at a map since the current southern routing of US 24 with I-469 was put into place has thought that it would make sense to improve Lafayette Center Road to Roanoke. Still I have never seen have never seen any plans for such a road - even in the INDOT long range plan. Possibly, there is not enough through traffic from the east toward Lafayette to justify it, or maybe it is just simply that there are higher priorities from both the regional and state point of view. For example, building I-69 and improving US 31 from Indy to South Bend is much more important for the state, IMO. From a regional perspective, money has been spent building the Fort-to-Port, widening several highways and upgrading interchanges. Therefore, considering limited funds, I would think both INDOT and the MPO don't think it is very important compared to other needs. Personally, I would favor a new US 24/I-469 interchange over improvement that road given current patterns and alternatives. Also, remember, there is a US 24 divided highway that doesn't seem near capacity now.

With the new shorter northern route of US 24, it won't look quite as obvious, at least. My guess is that if the area around I-469 develops more (beyond the GM truck plant), we'll see it show up in plans at least.