IN: US 31 South Bend to Plymouth Upgrade report

[silverback1065]

Just found this from a South Bend TV station about the future of Old US 31.

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/several-counties-cities-look-to-rename-old-us-31/27759332

According to the article, the stretch in Marshall County will be Michigan Road and in St. Joseph County will be 931, it doesn't say if it's State Road 931, but it would be the first I heard about another stretch of 931. I'm not honestly sure why the whole thing couldn't be Michigan Road, it matches up with the road's alignment down to Plymouth and up into South Bend.

It should be all michigan road due to the old highway going that way.  It will be signed as SR 931 in st joseph county, the video says the signs will be placed soon.

[silverback1065]

There was nothing marked at the Kern Road exit as to how the old road might be signed.  Trying to figure out how to avoid the squeeze at the South Bend end of the connection after the Notre Dame game Saturday.  I might try to take one of the other North-South roads down to Kern and cut over to pick up the new road South of the single lane section.  If I do, I will try to get a look and see if there is any updated signage.

The least traveled through southbound road after a game is Twyckenham.  Eddy to the west and Ironwood to the east get much more traffic.  If you can make your way to Twyckenham, take it all the way south.  Once you get past Ewing, it starts winding a bit and by the time it ends at Ridgedale, you're only a short block east of Miami.  Miami then gets you down to Kern. 

Thanks.  I typically park on the street in the neighborhood south of Angela, west of Notre Dame Avenue.  Usually along Peashway or Napoleon.  Looks like my key is getting across Eddy / South Bend Avenue to Twyckenham. 

I almost always park east of Eddy, so I haven't driven out of that neighborhood after a game in a long time.  If you can go south on St. Louis, that turns into Northside Blvd south of Jefferson.  Northside actually passes along the river under Eddy St., so you never have to cross Eddy.  At the Farmer's market, you can turn left on Beyer and it's just one block over to Mishawaka Ave.  That gets you over to Twyckenham right at Adams High/IUSB.  Like I said, this is all dependent on being allowed to go south on St. Louis.  Otherwise you're better off just going on over to Michigan to go south and then cutting directly over to Miami along Monroe/Lincolnway.

Is SR 23 still signed through south bend?  for some reason google maps isnt showing sr 23 at all

[NWI_Irish96]

Is SR 23 still signed through south bend?  for some reason google maps isnt showing sr 23 at all

I know it was still signed in July when I was last there, and I haven't seen news to indicate that anything was changing.  I'm sure INDOT wouldn't mind giving up SR 23 north of the bypass, but I doubt the county and city would be willing to take it.

[silverback1065]

It's probably another error by Google then

[Henry]

As I previously stated, this would make a great I-67!

you will likely get your wish in like 30 yrs.

Of course, they'll have to remove the last remaining at-grades, which I'm sure there are very few of now.

[silverback1065]

The problem is is that those 2 gaps won't be filled anytime soon. There's really not a huge need to even do so. The next interchange is sr 28 after all of this gets done.

[ysuindy]

There was nothing marked at the Kern Road exit as to how the old road might be signed.  Trying to figure out how to avoid the squeeze at the South Bend end of the connection after the Notre Dame game Saturday.  I might try to take one of the other North-South roads down to Kern and cut over to pick up the new road South of the single lane section.  If I do, I will try to get a look and see if there is any updated signage.

The least traveled through southbound road after a game is Twyckenham.  Eddy to the west and Ironwood to the east get much more traffic.  If you can make your way to Twyckenham, take it all the way south.  Once you get past Ewing, it starts winding a bit and by the time it ends at Ridgedale, you're only a short block east of Miami.  Miami then gets you down to Kern. 

Thanks.  I typically park on the street in the neighborhood south of Angela, west of Notre Dame Avenue.  Usually along Peashway or Napoleon.  Looks like my key is getting across Eddy / South Bend Avenue to Twyckenham. 

I almost always park east of Eddy, so I haven't driven out of that neighborhood after a game in a long time.  If you can go south on St. Louis, that turns into Northside Blvd south of Jefferson.  Northside actually passes along the river under Eddy St., so you never have to cross Eddy.  At the Farmer's market, you can turn left on Beyer and it's just one block over to Mishawaka Ave.  That gets you over to Twyckenham right at Adams High/IUSB.  Like I said, this is all dependent on being allowed to go south on St. Louis.  Otherwise you're better off just going on over to Michigan to go south and then cutting directly over to Miami along Monroe/Lincolnway.

Thanks - I see exactly what you mean and we now have a plan. We have gone south of Howard before after the games, so I think that will be ok.  We would use that to get to one of the bridges back across to Michigan.

I will attempt to give it a try Saturday evening and see what happens.

[NWI_Irish96]

The problem is is that those 2 gaps won't be filled anytime soon. There's really not a huge need to even do so. The next interchange is sr 28 after all of this gets done.

I can see everything south of Peru getting filled in, but converting the Plymouth-Peru section provides very little benefit compared to the cost.  I get the desire to be able to designate the road I-67, but there is much more benefit in spending money on 6-laning I-65 and I-70 than in converting the rest of US 31.

[roadman65]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.430816,-86.311384,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sYCSZwl636pDpjRWtI6UTtw!2e0 What is going to happen to this overpass now that US 31 is permanently closed south of 3A road?  I noticed that 3A road does not at all connect to Michigan Road either, but dead ends about 200 feet to the west of the now abandoned US 31.

I remember somebody once said that there was talk about using this interchange to connect with 3A Road, but is not this interchange now too elaborate for a very lightly used local road?

[mukade]

US 31 from US 20 down to the south tie-in is now in Google Maps and shown as a freeway (yea, they got it right). The part from the tie-in down to US 30 is the same as before, but that's OK until the project is completed. Now, it would be nice for them to show the Kokomo US 31 bypass as a freeway as it should be - they do have US 24 in Allen County correct now also.

Even more amazing, Google Maps actually fixed some of the problems in Lafayette. SR 26 no longer is shown as going from US 231 to I-65. SR 25 is no longer shown as going down I-65 and concurrent with SR 38. State roads 126, 443, and 526 are no longer shown. These Lafayette errors still exist, though:

• SR 43 is shown south of I-65 into Lafayette. This was decommissioned in 2013.
• SR 25 is shown east of US 231 to old US 231. That is now US 52 and SR 25 ends at the US 231 bypass.
• US 52 is not shown along its new route from the bypass to Sagamore Parkway (mainly Teal Road) as it should be.

It would be great to see it all correct. I submitted corrections at least twice only for them to be rejected.

[tdindy88]

INDOT doesn't mark the US 31 Kokomo bypass as a freeway either, nor the US 24 Fort Wayne to Ohio segment. And since I didn't attend the Indiana State Fair I don't know yet how the 2015 map will show the Plymouth-to-South Bend stretch of US 31. But I'd guess that it would be similar to the Kokomo segment.

I also just noticed that SR 4 hasn't been extended from old US 31 to the current highway.

[mukade]

I agree they don't show it that way, but it is a freeway both by objective measures and how the INDOT/Mitch Daniels advertised all the US 31 upgrades as being  "interstate quality". And they are that, indeed.

FWIW, Rand McNally shows both South Bend and Kokomo sections as freeway.

[silverback1065]

US 31 from US 20 down to the south tie-in is now in Google Maps and shown as a freeway (yea, they got it right). The part from the tie-in down to US 30 is the same as before, but that's OK until the project is completed. Now, it would be nice for them to show the Kokomo US 31 bypass as a freeway as it should be - they do have US 24 in Allen County correct now also.

Even more amazing, Google Maps actually fixed some of the problems in Lafayette. SR 26 no longer is shown as going from US 231 to I-65. SR 25 is no longer shown as going down I-65 and concurrent with SR 38. State roads 126, 443, and 526 are no longer shown. These Lafayette errors still exist, though:

• SR 43 is shown south of I-65 into Lafayette. This was decommissioned in 2013.
• SR 25 is shown east of US 231 to old US 231. That is now US 52 and SR 25 ends at the US 231 bypass.
• US 52 is not shown along its new route from the bypass to Sagamore Parkway (mainly Teal Road) as it should be.

It would be great to see it all correct. I submitted corrections at least twice only for them to be rejected.

I swear Google maps really pisses me off sometimes, I've done the same, and they finally accepted my changes to us 52, showing the right route, but now I see it disappeared! They insist on their wrong map, it is going to be an ordeal getting them to realize sr 4 and the new sr 931.

[tdindy88]

I'm kind of curious behind the orange route (on the map around Lafayette) that follows Sagamore Parkway north from Teal Road to South Street and then east to I-65. There aren't any route markers along that route but it's marked differently from local streets to indicate that it is still a highway. As for the NEW SR 931, I've seen very little from anything, other than that news article about desiginating the former stretch of US 31 from Plymouth to South Bend as 931. I don't think I've seen anything from INDOT and certainly Wikipedia doesn't have it, at least they (probably due to someone here) have acknowledged that SR 4 was extended.

As for the Indiana state maps, the South Bend bypass (US 20/31) and SR 912 are shown as freeways, I see no reason why the Kokomo bypass and Plymouth-to-South Bend parts of 31 along with US 24 from I-469 to Ohio be marked as freeways. It works fine on the Ohio state maps, with freeway parts of US 33 shown along with expressway segments, among other examples. I don't want to see something like Rand McNally's view of the Muncie bypass, SR 37 around Bloomington (yet) or US 41 around Princeton marked as freeways as well, that's a little too far for me.

[mukade]

I'm kind of curious behind the orange route (on the map around Lafayette) that follows Sagamore Parkway north from Teal Road to South Street and then east to I-65. There aren't any route markers along that route but it's marked differently from local streets to indicate that it is still a highway. As for the NEW SR 931, I've seen very little from anything, other than that news article about desiginating the former stretch of US 31 from Plymouth to South Bend as 931. I don't think I've seen anything from INDOT and certainly Wikipedia doesn't have it, at least they (probably due to someone here) have acknowledged that SR 4 was extended.

I personally don't mind the way non-INDOT highways are shown in Lafayette except you wonder why old SR 26/South St. qualifies when Sagamore Parkway and SR 38 which are as wide and modern don't. Anything subjective dauses disagreement.

SR 4 was extended over a year ago (and was even signed) so that definitely be shown in Google maps, but it is not. I'd like to see the INDOT SR 931 press release as well because the sign on new US 31 in South Bend over the supposed new SR 931 says "Old US 31".

As for the Indiana state maps, the South Bend bypass (US 20/31) and SR 912 are shown as freeways, I see no reason why the Kokomo bypass and Plymouth-to-South Bend parts of 31 along with US 24 from I-469 to Ohio be marked as freeways. It works fine on the Ohio state maps, with freeway parts of US 33 shown along with expressway segments, among other examples. I don't want to see something like Rand McNally's view of the Muncie bypass, SR 37 around Bloomington (yet) or US 41 around Princeton marked as freeways as well, that's a little too far for me.

I like any map to show reality so what is shown by Rand McNally in Bloomington or Valaraiso are fine by me. To me, the line is crossed when one single interchange or overpass makes a road a freeway. Friars Road in San Diego is (and has been) shown as a freeway for the longest time, but it is not by most standards so the problem is certainly not confined to the Indiana map. At least what Rand McNally shows in Indiana as freeways are almost all real freeways (maybe SR 25 is an exception) even if it they are short. For the Muncie Bypass which is not shown as a freeway, you could have a very strong argument that it is a freeway from McGalliard Rd. to CR 150E. The biggest slight/oversight in Indiana is the Lloyd Expressway (SR 62->SR 66) that is a freeway with several interchanges and will be extended when the US 41 interchange upgrade has been completed. It will be over four miles of fully controlled access then.

For the longest time, SR 912 was not shown as a freeway in the INDOT map or in the Rand McNally atlas. I lobbied both for changes for years - I am not sure if that had any impact, but both eventually changed their maps.

[roadman65]

The 2014 map of Rand McNally shows the new completed US 31 Plymouth to South Bend freeway, but it was not open at time of print.

Also the same edition shows IN 931 as an undivided road as it never changed when the US 31 bypass opened.

[mukade]

The 2014 map of Rand McNally shows the new completed US 31 Plymouth to South Bend freeway, but it was not open at time of print.

Also the same edition shows IN 931 as an undivided road as it never changed when the US 31 bypass opened.

The roads that are yellow with red line borders in the Rand McNally maps signify multi-lane roads, not necessarily divided highways. SR 931 (the one that actually exists and the one that may soon exist) are both multi-lane roads. They are now shown in gray due to their minor status, but were both shown as multi-lane highways in 2013 and previous versions.

[ysuindy]

There was nothing marked at the Kern Road exit as to how the old road might be signed.  Trying to figure out how to avoid the squeeze at the South Bend end of the connection after the Notre Dame game Saturday.  I might try to take one of the other North-South roads down to Kern and cut over to pick up the new road South of the single lane section.  If I do, I will try to get a look and see if there is any updated signage.

The least traveled through southbound road after a game is Twyckenham.  Eddy to the west and Ironwood to the east get much more traffic.  If you can make your way to Twyckenham, take it all the way south.  Once you get past Ewing, it starts winding a bit and by the time it ends at Ridgedale, you're only a short block east of Miami.  Miami then gets you down to Kern. 

Thanks.  I typically park on the street in the neighborhood south of Angela, west of Notre Dame Avenue.  Usually along Peashway or Napoleon.  Looks like my key is getting across Eddy / South Bend Avenue to Twyckenham. 

I almost always park east of Eddy, so I haven't driven out of that neighborhood after a game in a long time.  If you can go south on St. Louis, that turns into Northside Blvd south of Jefferson.  Northside actually passes along the river under Eddy St., so you never have to cross Eddy.  At the Farmer's market, you can turn left on Beyer and it's just one block over to Mishawaka Ave.  That gets you over to Twyckenham right at Adams High/IUSB.  Like I said, this is all dependent on being allowed to go south on St. Louis.  Otherwise you're better off just going on over to Michigan to go south and then cutting directly over to Miami along Monroe/Lincolnway.

Thanks - I see exactly what you mean and we now have a plan. We have gone south of Howard before after the games, so I think that will be ok.  We would use that to get to one of the bridges back across to Michigan.

I will attempt to give it a try Saturday evening and see what happens.

No traffic issues at all Saturday up and back to the Notre Dame - Rice game.

We hit the south end at US 30 about 10:30 a.m (3:30 game) and no backups there or at the north end. 

The game ended about 7:00 and we reached our car at the corner of Peashway and Lawrence in about 30 minutes.  I roughly followed cabiness42's directions - St.Louis was closed for construction before we could get to Northside, but we eventually got there.  As we went under Eddy Street, I noticed traffic was light so I crossed the river on Sample, turned left on Lincolnway and then right on Miami.

We were getting on 31 at the Kern Road interchange 18 minutes after leaving Peashway /Lawrence and it took us another 17 minutes to get to US 30.  No issues at all.  Perhaps we were ahead of the game traffic from the University lots.

We stopped to eat in Plymouth and ND fans returning from the game overwhelmed the Arby's there (I should know better - I don't think there is a "fast" Arby's anywhere).  Spoke with a few people who came through South Bend on 931 and they indicated no issues at all coming down 931.

I'm staying over after the Michigan game next weekend - have a hotel out along the Toll Road near LaPorte - so my challenge next week post game will be getting out in that direction.  Will just need to see how things flow.  I plan to go check in before the game to try to figure out different options for getting back.

[mukade]

As for the Indiana state maps, the South Bend bypass (US 20/31) and SR 912 are shown as freeways, I see no reason why the Kokomo bypass and Plymouth-to-South Bend parts of 31 along with US 24 from I-469 to Ohio be marked as freeways.

Both US 31 Kokomo and US 24 Fort to Port are now shown as freeways in the 2015 "Roadway Map".

[tdindy88]

Alas, the South Bend to Plymouth stretch is still shown as under construction. Hamilton County segment is also now shown that way with all the exits marked. Also no exit numbers for US 31, but I guess we have to take baby steps.

[ysuindy]

I drove this stretch for the first time in a month over the weekend. 

I am still struggling with the idea that the project will be done by year-end, although I'm thinking that "done" and "not having restrictions" are two different things.

On the north tie-in, the future northbound lanes look to be completely graded, but I see no indication that the concrete pouring process will be starting soon.  No base put down yet.

On the south tie-in, traffic underneath the new bridge for the 7th Road interchange has been shifted to the old southbound lanes.  It appears as if they are finally going to start construction on the portion of the bridge over the northbound lanes, but there remains no tangible evidence of construction over there.

They have started pouring concrete on the entrance / exit ramps on the West side of the 7th Road bridge (southbound exit to 7th, entrance from 7th).  The entrance / exit ramps on the East side of the bridge still appeared to need grading.

I cannot see how the interchange is fully operational by December 31.  Perhaps they will have no lane restrictions on 31, which is what the project website says.

As for the south end tie-in, to my uneducated eye at 60 mph, it looks like it is not as far advanced as the north end as far as grading and paving to tie in the new southbound lanes to the previously existing lanes.

[NWI_Irish96]

Thanks for that update.  I am taking my first trip on the new road this Friday. 

[silverback1065]

is the old section signed as sr 931?

[tdindy88]

I traveled this way last week and was still driving on the northbound lanes at the south end, so that switchover must have been very recent. I'd be okay if the 7th Road interchange wasn't fully completed this year, as long as there are four lanes of traffic at both the north and south ends, the odds and ends can wait until early next year.

A few observations/suggestions:

1) I did not see any SR 931 references up in St. Joseph County, of course I didn't travel that roadway either so I can't say it isn't signed at all.

2) I do not like the orange "guide signs" being used at the exits, especially around the US 6 exit, not to mention a good part of the Kokomo bypass. I really hope these are only temporary. I know a few of these signs have been damaged but the highway's been open only a month or so, how can there be signs damaged already. I haven't seen any sign damage along any of I-65 and I-69 in northern Indiana, so why here?

3) Although it probably won't happen, I wish that the destination and mileage signage along US 31 were similar to that of SR 37 from Indianapolis to Bedford. Signs on that highway are a little bigger and to me reflective of a major four-lane highway that US 31 is, instead there are those smaller mixed-case smaller signs that would work fine on small two-lane roads, but personally not to me on a highway that some would like to see become an interstate. Exit numbers at the US 24 and SR 25 interchanges couldn't hurt either....why not?

[silverback1065]

I traveled this way last week and was still driving on the northbound lanes at the south end, so that switchover must have been very recent. I'd be okay if the 7th Road interchange wasn't fully completed this year, as long as there are four lanes of traffic at both the north and south ends, the odds and ends can wait until early next year.

A few observations/suggestions:

1) I did not see any SR 931 references up in St. Joseph County, of course I didn't travel that roadway either so I can't say it isn't signed at all.

2) I do not like the orange "guide signs" being used at the exits, especially around the US 6 exit, not to mention a good part of the Kokomo bypass. I really hope these are only temporary. I know a few of these signs have been damaged but the highway's been open only a month or so, how can there be signs damaged already. I haven't seen any sign damage along any of I-65 and I-69 in northern Indiana, so why here?

3) Although it probably won't happen, I wish that the destination and mileage signage along US 31 were similar to that of SR 37 from Indianapolis to Bedford. Signs on that highway are a little bigger and to me reflective of a major four-lane highway that US 31 is, instead there are those smaller mixed-case smaller signs that would work fine on small two-lane roads, but personally not to me on a highway that some would like to see become an interstate. Exit numbers at the US 24 and SR 25 interchanges couldn't hurt either....why not?

The orange signs are temporary, and yes there are a lot of damaged signs still out there around the state.  One in particular that I can remember is 65 around 109th ave, all 3 of the signs were gone the last time I went through there, there's also a few at 465 and 421.  I don't know why it's taking so long to fix though!
As for the signage, I said the same thing about sr 25 for lafayette to logansport, but I drove through there months later, and it appears that the signs were changed to larger ones.  Not sure if I was remembering incorrectly or what, but the same could be happening to 31 you never know...