Update on I-69 Extension in Indiana

[ibthebigd]

How motivated is KYTC to get the bridge built?

Kentucky has to worry about added capacity to Cincinnati to worry about also.

SM-G950U

[theline]

Nah.  You don't find services at every interstate interchange.  It's really not that far between Bloomington and Evansville.  I doubt many people would make the trek out there with a small enough amount of gas to make it worrisome.

Fair enough. Not "every" interstate interchange, of course, but a very good number of them. What I was trying to express is that some drivers along I-69 in southern Indiana may find the availability of services rather, hmm, few and far between.

Hasn't anyone but me noticed the Country Mark station and store at the Crane (US-231) exit? I started using that stop back when 69 only when as far north as Crane. It's still a handy stop.

[rte66man]

the portion from bloomington to eville is scary in terms of services, don't drive that on less than a full tank!

Hogwash. There are plenty of services available at the Washington US 50/150 exit. Sounds like the new Hucks is open now, but even before that, plenty of services either taking Old US 50 into town (pretty nice Casey's on the I-69 side of town right on Old US 50) in Washington or a mile or two east along the US 50/150 Bypass routing (another pretty nice Casey's, plus other Food/Fuel options, plus Wal-Mart)

I don't drive that route a lot, but I've driven it enough times to know that is the stopping point between Evansville and Bloomington

I can't believe that the City of Washington and/or its Chamber of Commerce doesn't pay INDOT to put up the Blue Logo signs for Gas/Food/Lodging services available in Washington at that exit

Those signs are unreliable. I don't know how often INDoT updates them but I've run into problems in other states where I've exited and either the station has gone out of business, is closed after dark, or I wasn't able to find it (where it said 2 miles but was either farther or involved yet another turn).  They ought to add something like "Left- 3 miles" on the main sign before you exit to help you decide before you have to exit. The babble of signage on some exit ramps makes it difficult to see the one out of 12 you are looking for. In suburban or urban areas, they shouldn't be allowed if they are more than 1/2 mile from the exit.

[ITB]

Here's a few pictures of State Road 37 closed in Martinsville, Indiana. As many of you already know, the process of closing the road began yesterday morning, Saturday, January 2, 2020. Today, crews were undertaking the finishing touches, taking down signs, removing road markings, and adding double yellow striping to the four at grade crossings of SR 37 that will remain open to traffic in Martinsville for either the entirety of the closure or for most of 2021. Photos were taken Sunday, January 3, 2020, unless otherwise noted.

I-69 Project; Section 6, Segment 1; Martinsville, Indiana

Looking north toward State Road 37 from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass in Martinsville, Indiana, on the first full day of closure of SR 37, in preparation for SR 37 to be upgraded to interstate standards. In the background is the SR 252/Hospital Dr. crossing, which will remain open to east-west traffic during the year State Road 37 is closed.


Slightly closer perspective. In the deep background at the crest of the hill is SR 37/SR 44 crossing, which is now sealed off from SR 37. State Road 44 east of SR 37 will be remain open to traffic throughout the project. SR 44/Reuben Dr. west of SR 37, however, will only be open for part of 2021. Also, for most of 2021, State Road 44 eastbound will be reachable via a northbound lane on SR 37 accessed at SR 252 (note the vehicles doing just that).


Closer look of closed SR 37 and the SR 252/Hospital Dr. and SR 44/Reuben Dr. crossings using the long range lens.


Looking south toward State Road 37 from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass on the first full day of SR 37's closure.


Slightly closer look at closed SR 37; looking south. In the background around the curve but not quite visible is the SR 37/Ohio Street-Mahalasville Road intersection where an interchange will be built.


Another perspective looking north toward closed State Road 37 from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass.


And one more look from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass. Might be one of the better photos of the lot.

Edit: Added the last photo and caption.

[GreenLanternCorps]

Here's a few pictures of State Road 37 closed in Martinsville, Indiana. As many of you already know, the process of closing the road began yesterday morning, Saturday, January 2, 2020. Today, crews were undertaking the finishing touches, taking down signs, removing road markings, and adding double yellow striping to the four at grade crossings of SR 37 that will remain open to traffic in Martinsville for either the entirety of the closure or for most of 2021. Photos were taken Sunday, January 3, 2020, unless otherwise noted.

I-69 Project; Section 6, Segment 1; Martinsville, Indiana

Looking north toward State Road 37 from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass in Martinsville, Indiana, on the first full day of closure of SR 37, in preparation for SR 37 to be upgraded to interstate standards. In the background is the SR 252/Hospital Dr. crossing, which will remain open to east-west traffic during the year State Road 37 is closed.


Slightly closer perspective. In the deep background at the crest of the hill is SR 37/SR 44 crossing, which is now sealed off from SR 37. State Road 44 east of SR 37 will be remain open to traffic throughout the project. SR 44/Reuben Dr. west of SR 37, however, will only be open for part of 2021. Also, for most of 2021, State Road 44 eastbound will be reachable via a northbound lane on SR 37 accessed at SR 252 (note the vehicles doing just that).


Closer look of closed SR 37 and the SR 252/Hospital Dr. and SR 44/Reuben Dr. crossings using the long range lens.


Looking south toward State Road 37 from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass on the first full day of SR 37's closure.


Slightly closer look at closed SR 37; looking south. In the background around the curve but not quite visible is the SR 37/Ohio Street-Mahalasville Road intersection where an interchange will be built.


Another perspective looking north toward closed State Road 37 from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass.

Kind of eerie seeing a busy highway closed like that.

Google Maps has the closure showing from the State Road 37 interchange to the East Morgan St. intersection.

They have it showing as closed until NOV 2021, FYI.

[Life in Paradise]

That is one lonely road.  I surely hope that we have favorable weather and that everything at least stays on schedule for the road closure work. 

[tdindy88]

There was an announcement today that all of the NCAA March Madness tournament games are going to be played in Central Indiana this year with three sites around Indianapolis, one in West Lafayette (at Purdue) and one in Bloomington (at IU.) So does this make the SR 37 detour around Martinsville part of the "Road to the Final Four?"

[ITB]

Before putting up another batch of pictures, a few observations. It appears, from what I witnessed, that the closure of State Road 37 in Martinsville proceeded smoothly. The number of law enforcement vehicles posted throughout the closure zone was impressive. Both state and local police, in marked and unmarked vehicles. Obviously, INDOT wanted the closure to occur without a hitch and was taking no chances. And that's apparently what transpired. Late in the afternoon on Sunday, January 3, 2020, traffic was running smoothy without backup from I-69 northbound straight onto Morton Ave./State Road 39 in Martinsville. To be sure, traffic was light, but it was a positive sign the detour was working as planned.

On my trip to Martinsville on Sunday, instead of continuing north on I-69 to the detour point, I exited at the I-69/Liberty Church Road interchange and took the new frontage road -- Old SR 37 -- north to Jordan Road and then a left onto Burton Lane, which a mile or so further on intersects with State Road 37. For residents of Martinsville who wish to travel south on I-69, this short work around to the Liberty Church Road interchange might be worthwhile. This way they won't have to negotiate the traffic on Morton Ave./SR 39. And from the traffic I saw on Burton Lane, some drivers were already doing just that. There is one small stretch of Burton Lane that is rough with a number of large potholes. More traffic will only make the situation worse. Hopefully, local authorities of aware of the area and will take steps to mitigate any further degradation. Burton Lane south of SR 37 is a narrow country road, and like many country roads wasn't built to handle truck traffic. If large trucks begin to use it regularly, the road may quickly deteriorate.

I-69 Project; Section 6, Segment 1; Martinsville, Indiana

A RoadSafe team arriving at the recently closed State Road 37/Burton Lane intersection for re-striping work; looking east. For most of 2021, Burton Lane will remain open to cross SR 37. Eventually, the road will be closed off as no interchange or overpass will be built here.


Yup, more work to do. Looking southwest from near the SR 37/Burton Lane crossing toward the closed SR 37/SR 39 interchange.


RoadSafe team members at the SR 37/Burton Lane crossing; looking east.


Getting ready to get to work.


Prep work prior to putting down a double yellow; looking southeast.


Measuring out where the new striping is to be placed.


Grinding off no longer relevant pavement markings.


Mid-range perspective of the re-striping work. Burton Lane remained open throughout the process, although traffic was stopped from time to time.


The road striping equipment truck; looking south. I didn't stick around to see the re-striping job completed because I wanted to take a few snaps of SR 37 from the Grand Valley Blvd. overpass before it got too dark. I posted a few of those photos earlier.


One last one. Another look at SR 37 and the SR 37/SR 39 interchange; looking southwest. In the background, detoured I-69 traffic is running on the newly constructed southbound lanes of future I-69 just north of the bridge over Indian Creek. Northbound, from that point, it's straight ahead onto Morton Ave./SR 39 in Martinsville.

Edit: minor edits for readability; swapped out a photo for a similar but slightly different one.

[edwaleni]

Sometimes potholes are desirable.

I remember a favorite shortcut getting riddled with potholes. So I went down to the township highway office and asked them if/when they could fix it?

The answer I got was not satisfying, but it had cause.

They asked me why I was driving down that road? I told them it was a great shortcut.

They asked me how fast would I drive if they fixed it? I said, "I am not sure, the speed limit I reckon"

I was told that potholes make a great speed limiter and if the road makes the shortcut not worthy anymore, then maybe it shouldn't be a shortcut anymore.

The message they were giving me was, "use roads for their intended purpose".

County Roads are not meant to be regional or local arterials. They are meant for farmers and rural residents was the message I was being told.

I don't agree with that assessment myself, but have used it as the running reason why many rurals roads don't get fixed often or on demand.

[Flint1979]

Sometimes potholes are desirable.

I remember a favorite shortcut getting riddled with potholes. So I went down to the township highway office and asked them if/when they could fix it?

The answer I got was not satisfying, but it had cause.

They asked me why I was driving down that road? I told them it was a great shortcut.

They asked me how fast would I drive if they fixed it? I said, "I am not sure, the speed limit I reckon"

I was told that potholes make a great speed limiter and if the road makes the shortcut not worthy anymore, then maybe it shouldn't be a shortcut anymore.

The message they were giving me was, "use roads for their intended purpose".

County Roads are not meant to be regional or local arterials. They are meant for farmers and rural residents was the message I was being told.

I don't agree with that assessment myself, but have used it as the running reason why many rurals roads don't get fixed often or on demand.

The potholes aren't supposed to be there so using them for a speed limiter is a very poor excuse for not fixing the road.

[sprjus4]

^

Just sounds like a lazy excuse to defer needed maintenance. Sad really.

[silverback1065]

Sometimes potholes are desirable.

I remember a favorite shortcut getting riddled with potholes. So I went down to the township highway office and asked them if/when they could fix it?

The answer I got was not satisfying, but it had cause.

They asked me why I was driving down that road? I told them it was a great shortcut.

They asked me how fast would I drive if they fixed it? I said, "I am not sure, the speed limit I reckon"

I was told that potholes make a great speed limiter and if the road makes the shortcut not worthy anymore, then maybe it shouldn't be a shortcut anymore.

The message they were giving me was, "use roads for their intended purpose".

County Roads are not meant to be regional or local arterials. They are meant for farmers and rural residents was the message I was being told.

I don't agree with that assessment myself, but have used it as the running reason why many rurals roads don't get fixed often or on demand.

I don't agree with this, i think you were given excuses not real reasons. potholes can pose a safety problem on a road, and county roads are for moving people not just farmers, the limiting factor is money, most rural counties have no money to fix their roads. hence why most of them are just layer after layer of chip seal.

[Rothman]

In western MA, leaving roads unmaintained to restrict speeds was standard practice and even encouraged by locals...up until the 1990s.

I do think it's safe to say that mentality is thankfully behind the region now.

[Flint1979]

I can think of a few roads around me like that, all in Saginaw County. Davis Road between Tittabawassee and Pierce Road was one until this past summer when they finally rebuilt the road. Graham Road between Curve Road to Tittabawassee is one, another one is Tittabawassee itself west of Gleaner all the way to Meridian. All are county maintained roads. It seems like Saginaw County does a pretty poor job of maintaining the roads as the road their garage is on (Sheridan) is in bad shape as are Hess and Gallagher, a set of one way streets nearby.

I can't figure out what got into the county to redo Davis Road this past summer though.

[edwaleni]

Sometimes potholes are desirable.

I remember a favorite shortcut getting riddled with potholes. So I went down to the township highway office and asked them if/when they could fix it?

The answer I got was not satisfying, but it had cause.

They asked me why I was driving down that road? I told them it was a great shortcut.

They asked me how fast would I drive if they fixed it? I said, "I am not sure, the speed limit I reckon"

I was told that potholes make a great speed limiter and if the road makes the shortcut not worthy anymore, then maybe it shouldn't be a shortcut anymore.

The message they were giving me was, "use roads for their intended purpose".

County Roads are not meant to be regional or local arterials. They are meant for farmers and rural residents was the message I was being told.

I don't agree with that assessment myself, but have used it as the running reason why many rurals roads don't get fixed often or on demand.

I don't agree with this, i think you were given excuses not real reasons. potholes can pose a safety problem on a road, and county roads are for moving people not just farmers, the limiting factor is money, most rural counties have no money to fix their roads. hence why most of them are just layer after layer of chip seal.

I agree. Its the difference between letting someone know they have a headlight out or a low tire vs telling someone they aren't doing their job.

I thought I was helping them by letting them know where the issues were, they took it as me telling them they weren't doing their job.

[someone17]

Sometimes potholes are desirable.

I remember a favorite shortcut getting riddled with potholes. So I went down to the township highway office and asked them if/when they could fix it?

The answer I got was not satisfying, but it had cause.

They asked me why I was driving down that road? I told them it was a great shortcut.

They asked me how fast would I drive if they fixed it? I said, "I am not sure, the speed limit I reckon"

I was told that potholes make a great speed limiter and if the road makes the shortcut not worthy anymore, then maybe it shouldn't be a shortcut anymore.

The message they were giving me was, "use roads for their intended purpose".

County Roads are not meant to be regional or local arterials. They are meant for farmers and rural residents was the message I was being told.

I don't agree with that assessment myself, but have used it as the running reason why many rurals roads don't get fixed often or on demand.

I don't agree with this, i think you were given excuses not real reasons. potholes can pose a safety problem on a road, and county roads are for moving people not just farmers, the limiting factor is money, most rural counties have no money to fix their roads. hence why most of them are just layer after layer of chip seal.

I agree. Its the difference between letting someone know they have a headlight out or a low tire vs telling someone they aren't doing their job.

I thought I was helping them by letting them know where the issues were, they took it as me telling them they weren't doing their job.

Yeah, they weren't doing their jobs imho.

[abqtraveler]

It looks like they're wasting no time at all getting to work on the recently closed section of SR-37 through Martinsville. From pictures posted on the I-69 Finish Line website just this past week, crews demolished the SR-37 overpass over the old ramps to SR-39 south of Martinsville. Removal of the old SR-37 pavement is moving along as well.

https://i69finishline.com/sr-37-winter-2020-2021/

[Roadsguy]

Has INDOT confirmed that SR 37 will be completely decommissioned along the entire I-69 concurrency, or will it become another "stealth concurrency" only signed from each end, just like the non-Interstate concurrencies on I-465?

[abqtraveler]

Has INDOT confirmed that SR 37 will be completely decommissioned along the entire I-69 concurrency, or will it become another "stealth concurrency" only signed from each end, just like the non-Interstate concurrencies on I-465?

I haven't seen anything official from INDOT on decommissioning SR-37 where it overlaps I-69, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

[silverback1065]

Has INDOT confirmed that SR 37 will be completely decommissioned along the entire I-69 concurrency, or will it become another "stealth concurrency" only signed from each end, just like the non-Interstate concurrencies on I-465?

yes 37 will be decommissioned. sign plans for the martinsville segment lack 37 signage, and the new interchange on the north east side of indy lacks 37 signage too. 37 will have 3 pieces now. the bloomington piece, fishers, and ft wayne piece.

[NWI_Irish96]

How much work and ROW would be needed to get the I-67 designation from Westfield to I-465?

US 31 is already freeway from I-465 to just north of Westfield. That's not long enough to get an I-67 designation. It could qualify for an I-x65 designation, but I've not heard any suggesting that the state pursue that designation.

[I-55]

How much work and ROW would be needed to get the I-67 designation from Westfield to I-465?

US 31 is already freeway from I-465 to just north of Westfield. That's not long enough to get an I-67 designation. It could qualify for an I-x65 designation, but I've not heard any suggesting that the state pursue that designation.

Not to mention that INDOT plans to make the corridor a freeway all the way to Kokomo for now. An interstate designation is probably still years away, but even a temporary 3di would be beneficial as it would allow the speed limit to go to 70 under Indiana law.

[NWI_Irish96]

How much work and ROW would be needed to get the I-67 designation from Westfield to I-465?

US 31 is already freeway from I-465 to just north of Westfield. That's not long enough to get an I-67 designation. It could qualify for an I-x65 designation, but I've not heard any suggesting that the state pursue that designation.

Not to mention that INDOT plans to make the corridor a freeway all the way to Kokomo for now. An interstate designation is probably still years away, but even a temporary 3di would be beneficial as it would allow the speed limit to go to 70 under Indiana law.

I don't think Indiana is going to apply for a 3di unless they are giving up on eventually making it I-67. I don't see them putting up one set of signs just to go back and re-sign everything again later.

[I-55]

How much work and ROW would be needed to get the I-67 designation from Westfield to I-465?

US 31 is already freeway from I-465 to just north of Westfield. That's not long enough to get an I-67 designation. It could qualify for an I-x65 designation, but I've not heard any suggesting that the state pursue that designation.

Not to mention that INDOT plans to make the corridor a freeway all the way to Kokomo for now. An interstate designation is probably still years away, but even a temporary 3di would be beneficial as it would allow the speed limit to go to 70 under Indiana law.

I don't think Indiana is going to apply for a 3di unless they are giving up on eventually making it I-67. I don't see them putting up one set of signs just to go back and re-sign everything again later.

You're right that INDOT likely wouldn't go for one, it was more of a wish on my part given the speed limit situation. Until I-69 is done there probably won't be a lot to hear about regarding more 31 upgrades.

[ilpt4u]

I don't think Indiana is going to apply for a 3di unless they are giving up on eventually making it I-67. I don't see them putting up one set of signs just to go back and re-sign everything again later.

Original I-69 Exit Tabs wave "Hi"  on that whole one set of signs to re-sign everything later...and then re-sign it a 3rd time!

I don't think INDOT minds too much putting up new signs