US 31 Hamilton County, Indiana

[mukade]

The only restaurant I saw ready for demolition was Wendy's. There are two banks and a Goodwill store as well, plus a ton of houses north of Target. Target is losing some of its parking lot.

At SR 32, McDonald's and Taco Bell (and presumably Hardee's) will go, but I am not sure when. I am not sure what will happen to McDonald's at 151st - I heard that is one of the busiest ones in the Indy region.

[silverback1065]

Anybody have any pictures of us31 & sr38?

[mukade]

There are two projects underway currently. In addition, demolition is going on from 161st St. to Greyhound Pass. The following is a picture from the southern construction area.



Ramp from US 31 southbound to Keystone Pkwy.

[ShawnP]

So once the three big projects are complete on US-31. How many more projects would be required to bring US-31 to Interstate standards the whole way from Indy to South Bend? Would it be easy one's like US-71 to I-49 in Missouri or more Hamilton County US-31's? This project is important to the whole state and region as Kokomo has the huge Chrysler transmission plants and the quicker they can get market ,the better chance for keeping plants in the USA. Plus gives me a better route to go see the UP of Michigan.

[mukade]

I agree this freeway is important - as important to the state as I-69 is, IMO as South Bend metro area is bigger than Evansville metro. Unfortunately, there are sections with a lot of driveway accesses so that will require either a new route (even if like they are proposing for US 31 around SR 32) or a lot of demolition. Those areas are off and on from north of SR 38 to the Peru cutoff. North of there, it is by and large a limited access highway.

I would say these are the logical remaining sections (north to south):
- US 30 to SR 10 (Plymoth to Argos) - no existing stoplights and presumably two interchanges would be needed
- SR 10 to SR 25 (Argos to Rochester) - no existing stoplights and presumably one interchange required at SR 110
- SR 25 to US 24 (Rochester to Peru) - Rochester already has an interchange with SR 25 and SR 14 crosses over US 31. This section has one stoplight just north of US 24 and presumably one or two interchanges would be needed
- US 24 to SR 218 (Peru to Grissom ARB) - US 24 at US 31 is a big cloverleaf that was built in 2001 - there are stoplights at BR 31 and SR 218 with a lot of driveway accesses. Presumably three interchanges would be needed
- SR 218 to US 35 (Grissom ARB to Cassville) - there is a stoplight at SR 18 and presumably that would be the only interchange
- Tipton County CR 600N to SR 28 - there are stoplights at Tipton County Division Rd. and SR 28 and presumably only one interchange would be required
- SR 28 to SR 38 - there is a stoplight at 236th St. (old SR 47) where an interchange would be needed

So there will be 7 stoplights remaining (down from around 40) when the three current sections are completed, and I would guess ten interchanges would need to be built. North of US 24 is sparsely populated so maybe less overpasses and more cul-de-sacs would be built.

[silverback1065]

when all the current work is finished, the drive will be so much better, the gaps won't be so bad, i hope that they fix these in the next 20- 30 yrs.

[NWI_Irish96]

As someone who drives from Louisville to South Bend frequently, I can say that 6-laning I-65 from Greenwood to Sellersburg would go a lot farther toward cutting travel times than finishing off the rural sections of US 31.  I'd much rather see the money to go I-65 first.

[mukade]

I assume they would split the difference. I think they will want to do the most dangerous intersections on US 31 like SR 28 and SR 18. At the same time, slowly widen I-65 southward from Indy and NW Indiana. How far does the six-laning go north from Louisville? Memphis?

They also need to incrementally widen I-70 and build I-69. All these add up to serious money.

[tdindy88]

Drove through this area on my way back from up north earlier this evening and saw vacant buildings on the west side from 151st to Greyhound Pass. I also saw some clearing work being done from 151st north to (I assume) 161st Street. I suppose that has to do with the fact that the highway is being widened to six lanes, and general ROW stuff. Took the bridge from US 31 to Keystone and noticed that the bridge seemed a bit high, or maybe that was just compared to what was there.

Going along the entire US 31 corridor, I agree with everything said above about what would be needed to make this corridor a freeway. I also agree that I-65 should be six lanes from Greenwood to Sellersburg. I also think I-70 could be six-lanes across the state, but I'm probably asking for too much.

[mukade]

From 161st to SR 32, the road also will follow a new path which is slightly west of the existing one to avoid the Westfield schools.

As far as what INDOT will do, I think the commitments beyond current projects are only I-69 and I-70.

[silverback1065]

From 161st to SR 32, the road also will follow a new path which is slightly west of the existing one to avoid the Westfield schools.

As far as what INDOT will do, I think the commitments beyond current projects are only I-69 and I-70.

So will the old routing of 31 will be removed?

[NWI_Irish96]

I assume they would split the difference. I think they will want to do the most dangerous intersections on US 31 like SR 28 and SR 18. At the same time, slowly widen I-65 southward from Indy and NW Indiana. How far does the six-laning go north from Louisville? Memphis?

They also need to incrementally widen I-70 and build I-69. All these add up to serious money.

It doesn't even go to Memphis.  The six lane section ends at Sellersburg (Exit 9).

[ShawnP]

I have seen long range plans to bring I-65 to six lanes up to the Memphis area.

[NWI_Irish96]

I have seen long range plans to bring I-65 to six lanes up to the Memphis area.

So long range plans cover less than 10% of the remaining 2-lane section?  I can't wait for 10 years down the road when my drive will get one minute shorter.

[mukade]

I think there are also plans going south from Indy (i.e. Greenwood) in the not too-distant future. I think I read somewhere it would be to Franklin.

[mukade]

The US 31/SR 38 interchange project is wrapping up it seems, and also the article confirms the remainder of US 31 work in Hamilton County will be let as a single project later this year to open in 2015.

INDOT: U.S. 31/SR 38 traffic shift (WISH TV)

[tvketchum]

- US 24 to SR 218 (Peru to Grissom ARB) - US 24 at US 31 is a big cloverleaf that was built in 2001 - there are stoplights at BR 31 and SR 218 with a lot of driveway accesses.

The cloverleaf was COMPLETED in 2001, before this, US 24 expressway ended here, in a partial cloverleaf which had the ramps for the unbuilt western direction graded, but not paved. US 24 followed US 31 south to the (now) old US 24 two lane to get to Wabash. The Peru east section US 24 expressway was open to traffic by the early 1980s.

[mukade]

- US 24 to SR 218 (Peru to Grissom ARB) - US 24 at US 31 is a big cloverleaf that was built in 2001 - there are stoplights at BR 31 and SR 218 with a lot of driveway accesses.

The cloverleaf was COMPLETED in 2001, before this, US 24 expressway ended here, and followed US 31 south the (now) old US 24 two lane to get to Wabash. The Peru east section US 24 expressway was open to traffic by the early 1980s.

Yes, the partial interchange existed before then, but it was completely rebuilt in 2001 - all ramps and even US 31.

[J N Winkler]

If you look at the current INDOT letting list (http://www.in.gov/indot/div/lettings/18MonthsConstLettingDetails_Ext.pdf, is contract IR-34750 which is scheduled to be let on 10/31/12, the entire remaining part of the Hamilton County upgrade of US 31?

This project has now been advertised for a letting on November 15.  The plans and CIB distribution aggregate to 70 files and 1.87 GB, and is by far the largest I have seen for any Indiana DOT project since I began downloading them in 2006.  I count 131 sign panel detail and sign elevation sheets (all pattern-accurate) for the permanent signing, and about 10 pattern-accurate sign detail sheets for maintenance of traffic through construction.

[mukade]

I looked for plans for that contract when tindy88 found the I-69/SR 37 Bloomington interchange plans, but did not see them. Thanks for the heads up!

The two big questions I had were:
1) would US 31 exits be numbered? Yes!! (unlike US 31 at SR 38 which is currently under construction)
2) what is the control city on I-465? Kokomo and Westfield. I expected South Bend.

[tdindy88]

Should be Kokomo and South Bend, who cares about Westfield. I know, Westfield is a decent sized town, but they can put an auxilary sign approaching the exit just as they have with Carmel near Exit 33. If Carmel ain't going to be on a BGS, neither should Westfield, my two cents. Add on top of that the fact that Westfield isn't even (I think) mentioned for the signage at SR 32, skipped for Lebanon and Noblesville instead. 

[J N Winkler]

Mukade--you are welcome.

Regarding control points:  what South Bend, Kokomo, Lebanon, and Noblesville have in common is that they are all county seats, while Carmel and Westfield are not.  I don't know if status as a county seat factors into Indiana DOT's control point choices as it does in Kansas DOT's, but if it does, this is an additional reason the choice of Westfield for US 31 off I-465 is unexpected.  I wonder if it has something to do with the US 31/Keystone Parkway split being almost in Westfield.

(Speaking of the Keystone Parkway, the StreetView imagery still shows traffic signals at major intersections but the mapping shows them as grade separations with dumbbell roundabouts.  I want to find out who handled these upgrades and see if I can get hold of construction plans.)

[tdindy88]

As far as I know, Carmel did the upgrades to Keystone Parkway, that is about as much as I know about that. As for the county seat thing, it depends on the highway and the location of the interchange. It's really just what good-sized communities are there near the exit, if they are county seats then those are used, but not always. The SR 38 interchange uses Sheridan and Noblesville (as opposed to say using Frankfort and Noblesville.) As for the SR 32 interchange, I think Lebanon and Noblesville are appropriate, I just think that Westfield should be in there. And don't give me anything about having only two control cities, the interchanges for US 30, SR 46 and US 50 off of I-65 use three controls, so it's not a problem.  Granted, I'm thinking a little too much into this.

[mukade]

I don't think county seats matter for control cities in Indiana. Gary, Michigan City, and Kendallville are three examples of control cities that come to mind that are not county seats. The theory for Westfield being selected because it is where Keystone Pkwy joins US 31 actually makes sense. I think INDOT still maintains Keystone for about a quarter of a mile past US 31 so it probably is technically SR 431 for that short distance.

I agree with tindy88 that Carmel built Keystone Pkwy, but the majority of the money ($90M) came from INDOT's Major Moves pot. I do have pictures of the signage if you want to see what it actually looks like, but it is certainly not up to INDOT's standards. The traffic flows very well on the road even though it is only two lanes in each direction and the speed limit is 50 MPH.

[silverback1065]

There are plans to put one of those tear drop roundabouts at 96th and Keystone