I-465 Indianapolis

[rte66man]

I am attending a conference in Indianapolis later this month and was scoping out some good used book stores.  There is one just off 465 on the north side, however there isn't an exit on that stretch for 4 miles (between Michigan and Meridian)!!!  What's up with that?

rte66man

[NWI_Irish96]

At the time 465 was built, there really wasn't anything there.  The area is a little bit more built up now, but probably still not enough to justify building an exit.

[rte66man]

At the time 465 was built, there really wasn't anything there.  The area is a little bit more built up now, but probably still not enough to justify building an exit.

Really?? Here's what I see on Google:
  http://goo.gl/maps/kdS8A

The least they could do is put in an exit at Ditch Rd.

rte66man

[SEWIGuy]

At the time 465 was built, there really wasn't anything there.  The area is a little bit more built up now, but probably still not enough to justify building an exit.

Really?? Here's what I see on Google:
  http://goo.gl/maps/kdS8A

The least they could do is put in an exit at Ditch Rd.

rte66man

Really?  Because I see a lot of houses and businesses that would need to be displaced for the sake of dumping a bunch of traffic onto what are basically residential streets.

And you want to do that just because you don't want to go 4 miles between exits???

[NWI_Irish96]

The area near 86th/96th/Ditch/Township Line is highly residential and people there probably don't want the extra traffic that would come with an exit, and honestly, this is the first time in my life I've ever heard of anybody traveling to this area to visit a specific business.  I'm guessing it's something along 86th near St. Vincent's and you are probably losing at most 3 minutes by having to go to Michigan or Meridian compared to having an exit at Ditch.

[tvketchum]

I am attending a conference in Indianapolis later this month and was scoping out some good used book stores.  There is one just off 465 on the north side, however there isn't an exit on that stretch for 4 miles (between Michigan and Meridian)!!!  What's up with that?

rte66man

4 mile stretch, one store, at most, two miles of Indy surface streets. You may find other items of interest in the few minutes you are off the superslab. The area in the picture is mostly residential, churches, and such, with the commercial stuff down on 86th st. I wouldn't to live in those areas if there was an ramp dumping onto a local street.

[thefro]

Yep, it's pretty much all residential outside of 86th Street which has St. Vincent's Hospital and a few smaller businesses.  No real reason to add another exit ramp there.  None of the area directly by the interstate is zoned commerical.

[trafficsignal]

Not to mention the Nora area (86th & Ditch & surroundings) typically are the biggest NIMBYs in the city.  Plus 86th Street is about as fast as 465 anyway (40 mph, but I've typically done 45-50).

[tdindy88]

One thing to add on: Since they've added roundabouts along 96th Street from Michigan Road to Meridian Street, traveling that road actually hasn't been too bad either. Also, not be a stickler or anything, but 86th and Ditch wouldn't really be Nora, more like the St. Vincent area, Westlane or College Park. Nora is more around 86th and College. They're still NIMBYs though.

[trafficsignal]

yep, my mind was on the wrong side of Meridian, thanks for the reminder.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Interesting, if this was in a lot southern cities there would probably be an exit at Ditch and Township Line. Otherwise you'd have neighborhood associations complaining about having to go out of the way, even if it is only 1.5 miles, to get to the highway.

Anyway, I'll be in the area on business early next month and was wondering how traffic is in the area during the week, especially on the I-465 between Keystone and Binford.

[tdindy88]

Avoid going east on I-465 on that stretch at rush hour if you could as it's one of the usual spots for backups. INDOT rebuilt I-465 into a ten-lane concrete freeway from Meridian/US 31 to past Keystone and WERE supposed to do the same all the way to the Binford interchange, but they ran out of money and put the second half of the project on hold. So if you head east of Allisonville Road the highway goes back to its original six-lane blacktop highway all the way to Binford, though this may have changed with recent construction at the Allisonville Road interchange. I doubt it since I still hear about the traffic backups on that stretch on a near daily basis. If you are traveling that way at any other time, disregard what I said about trafffic backups.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Thanks tdindy88. Any surface street suggestions?

[tdindy88]

The main two streets that run east-west in that area are 86th/82nd Street (the street name changes at the White River but is otherwise the same road) to the south and 96th Street to the north. Granted, I'm being a little dramatic about the traffic, it isn't as bad as anything in Chicago, so even if you head east on 465 you won't be stuck for hours. I mention this because the surface streets can have some traffic on the too at rush hour, though I don't recall how bad those roads are other than the stoplights along the roads. On note however at 96th Street and Allisonville Road is Indiana's first Michigan Left intersection, so that may be of some interest to see if you choice a surface street.