Decatur Direct — the Extension of Ameriplex Pkwy to Southport Road in Indy

[ITB]

The project to extend Ameriplex Parkway to the intersection of Southport and Mann Road in southern Indianapolis is rapidly moving forward. Earlier this year, a recommended final route alignment was selected from among three alternatives. The project, now dubbed Decatur Direct, is now in the detailed design phase. Right-of-way acquisition is scheduled to get underway in 2021, with construction planned to commence in 2023.

The new roadway will feature four 11' traffic lanes, two lanes in each direction. Parts of the roadway will have a 15' raised traffic median, while other sections will not. On one side of the roadway will be a 10' multi-use path separated from the roadway by a 6' grass buffer, while the other side will have a 6' concrete sidewalk, also separated by a 6' grass buffer. To improve traffic flow, at least two traffic roundabouts are planned.

The project's main objective is to improve connectivity in southern Marion County, and to enhance access to Indianapolis International Airport and nearby areas from southern portions of Marion County as well as western sections of Johnson County.

Map of the Three Alternatives


Recommended Preferred Alignment


Links: Decatur Direct project website https://www.decaturdirect.com/
          February 2020 Public Meeting Presentation https://www.decaturdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ameriplex-Parkway-02-18-20-0925-2.pdf

[Revive 755]

It doesn't look very direct - it should have more rounded curves where it switches from the Mill Road corridor to the Camby/Southport corridor.

If they can't do more rounded curves due to farmland impacts, then this is another sign of how flawed environmental processes have become.  If the economy picks back up I doubt that farmland will remain unconverted to other uses for very long.

[sprjus4]

It doesn't look very direct - it should have more rounded curves where it switches from the Mill Road corridor to the Camby/Southport corridor.

If they can't do more rounded curves due to farmland impacts, then this is another sign of how flawed environmental processes have become.  If the economy picks back up I doubt that farmland will remain unconverted to other uses for very long.

I'm pretty sure those curves would be roundabouts.

The fact some of the road will be undivided is flawed itself. A properly built modern 4 lane road should have a consistent raised median section.

[ITB]

It doesn't look very direct - it should have more rounded curves where it switches from the Mill Road corridor to the Camby/Southport corridor.

If they can't do more rounded curves due to farmland impacts, then this is another sign of how flawed environmental processes have become.  If the economy picks back up I doubt that farmland will remain unconverted to other uses for very long.

I'm pretty sure those curves would be roundabouts.

The fact some of the road will be undivided is flawed itself. A properly built modern 4 lane road should have a consistent raised median section.

Yes, it appears roundabouts are planned where the parkway will intersect with Camby Road and W. Mills Road. An earlier alternative, very similar to what is depicted in the maps above, showed a curving, more expressway-like roadway.

[tdindy88]

And what about Southport Road from Mann Road across the White River to the new I-69 interchange? I guess the city isn't able to do much about that at the moment. It will be a two-lane choke point for at least a decade after this Decatur Direct project is finished, just like the two-mile gap on Emerson Avenue (between Southport and County Line) between four-lane sections that is only now being addressed over the next few years.

Honestly, on the parts of Amerplex Parkway that will lack of raised median, I'd almost strip the road for two lanes only just to compensate for the dramatic lack of capacity east of Mann Road, but build it for four lanes so you can redo it when the rest of the corridor is ready.

[ilpt4u]

Is Ameriplex Parkway going to get an Interchange @ IN 67? Or will that continue to be an at-grade light and adjacent RR crossing?

Surely someone at INDOT can see that intersection warrants a grade-separated interchange

[ITB]

The fact some of the road will be undivided is flawed itself. A properly built modern 4 lane road should have a consistent raised median section.

Ideally, the parkway would have a consistent raised median throughout its length. The selected alignment, however, has the road shoehorned between two residential developments, and it's a tight fit as it is. With the added width of a raised median, its possible many more homes would have to be acquired and razed.


The section of the parkway where it will run between two residential areas roughly 1/2 miles west of the intersection of Southport and Mann Roads.

Is Ameriplex Parkway going to get an Interchange @ IN 67? Or will that continue to be an at-grade light and adjacent RR crossing?

Surely someone at INDOT can see that intersection warrants a grade-separated interchange

There is no SR 67 interchange planned as part of the parkway extension project. I imagine sometime in the future one will be built, but it's probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Edit: grammar

[Revive 755]

Surely someone at INDOT can see that intersection warrants a grade-separated interchange

Being Indiana it's more likely that section of IN 67 would be decommissioned first.

[sprjus4]

Ideally, the parkway would have a consistent raised median throughout its length. The selected alignment, however, has the road shoehorned between two residential developments, and it's a tight fit as it is. With the added width of a raised median, its possible many more homes would have to be acquired and razed

76 feet vs. 92 feet of right of way. There's at least 100 feet they can utilize without demolishing any houses between the developments.

[tdindy88]

Surely someone at INDOT can see that intersection warrants a grade-separated interchange

Being Indiana it's more likely that section of IN 67 would be decommissioned first.

I remember seeing it on some maps, a while ago, a proposed extension of Ameriplex Pkwy across SR 67 with a folded diamond interchange. It was some weird quirk with some GIS produced maps. This image is courtasey of an older IndyGo route map but in the center you can see the line-art for a proposed exit with SR 67. I've never heard of anything personally that indicated that this was actually getting built.


Speaking of SR 67 and decommissioning. While I don't think decommissioning the highway between Ameriplex and I-465 is a good idea, would it be a stretch to ask why SR 67 exists between I-465 and Daleville? Leaving I-465 in Lawrence, SR 67 is multiplexed with US 36 all the way to Pendleton and then with SR 9 up to Anderson, and then I-69 around to Daleville before resuming an independent route northeast toward Muncie. If SR 37 is destined to have a long gap between Bloomington and Fishers, why can't SR 67 have a gap from Indy to Daleville. Why can't we just have two SR 67 segments: Vincennes to Indy and Daleville to Ohio. Who will actually miss it along Pendleton Pike and points northeast?

[ITB]

Ideally, the parkway would have a consistent raised median throughout its length. The selected alignment, however, has the road shoehorned between two residential developments, and it's a tight fit as it is. With the added width of a raised median, its possible many more homes would have to be acquired and razed

76 feet vs. 92 feet of right of way. There's at least 100 feet they can utilize without demolishing any houses between the developments.

It's not so much the actual width of the roadway and median, but the amount of land required for the right of way. Somewhere deep in the Indiana road building regs there's probably an arcane rule that says you need so many feet of right of way bordering each side of a divided 4-lane parkway. In other words, it's officially stipulated that some sort of buffer exist between properties and roadway. Right-of-way requirements can be tweaked, of course, but how the process unfolds, what steps must be taken I do not know. At any rate, anytime when land and the rights of landowners are involved, the process of redrawing lines can be drawn out, all the more so if property owners object and turn to the courts for relief.


 

[silverback1065]

i think 67 should be 2 pieces, but it also makes no sense that 67 takes over for 18 when it shoots east to ohio.