INDIANA STATE ROAD FACTS

Facts and general information on Indiana's state road system

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Related Pages
     Indiana Highways @Wikipedia
     Indiana Highway Ends @highwayexplorer.com

SUMMARY

Indiana's first highway system was started with 51 numbered state routes that came into existence in approx. 1918. Later came the the national highway system which introduced US routes like US 31 and US 41 to the state. Finally in the 1950's and 60's a revolutionary system of superior highways known as 'interstate routes' came into being and are the primary form of motor transportation in the state. The bulk of the interstate system was completed in Indiana in the mid to late 1970's.

INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS IN INDIANA

Interstate Highways
I-64 I-65 I-69 I-70 I-74 I-80 I-90
I-94 I-164 I-275 I-265 I-465 I-865 I-469

Indiana's Interstate system is the primary highway transportation system in the state. It consists of 8 primary interstate highways and 6 auxiliary interstate highways that serve as loops or spurs. The majority of interstate system was completed in Indiana in the late 1970's with the last sections of interstate being completed through downtown Indianapolis. Currently Indiana's interstate system consists of 1169 miles of Interstate highways.

Construction is currently underway to extend I-69 southward through Evansville into Kentucky, eventually leading to Texas and Mexico. Portions of the new I-69 are now open to traffic. Also a new bridge crossing over the Ohio river in the Louisville metro area will close the gap in the current I-265 loop. More information on future plans for Indiana's Interstates can be found on the Visions page. For more history about Indiana's interstates see the History page.

U.S. HIGHWAYS IN INDIANA

US Routes - (strikethrough indicates decommissioned routes)
US 6 US 12 US 20 US 24 US 27 US 30 US 31
US 31A US 31E US 31W US 35 US 36 US 40 US 41
US 50 US 52 US 112 US 112S US 131 US 136 US 150
US 152 US 224 US 231 US 421 US 460 US 641  

U.S. Routes were part of the first transcontinenntal highways built in the U.S. The earliest U.S. Routes date back to the mid 1920's. They were an integral part of transportation prior to the construction of the Interstate system. U.S. Routes in Indiana, once the primary method of transportation, may serve a different purpose than they used to. However, they are still vital to the state connecting communities to the interstate highway system. US-31, US-41, and US-50 are the most significant U.S. highways since they travel through many communities not served directly by interstate highways. Currently Indiana's U.S highway system consists of 19 U.S. highways, but previously there were as many as 23 routes in the past.

currently there are plans to upgrade Several US Routes throughout the state as part of ongoing plans and studies to address growing traffic volume. The most prominent upgrade is the US 31 upgrades planned between South Bend and Indianapolis, as well as a new US-231 bypass near Lafayette and improvements to US-41. More information on future plans for Indiana's U.S. highways can be found on the Visions page.

Some US route numbers have also been decommissioned or truncated or reassigned state road numbers. These are reflected in the route table in strikeout type. For additional information on the history of Indiana's U.S. highways see the History page.

STATE ROADS IN INDIANA

State Roads - (strikethrough indicates decommissioned routes)
2 Digit Routes (00's)
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11   13 14 15 16 17 18 19
  21 22 23   25 26   28 29
    32   34 35   37 38 39
    42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
  51   53 54 55 56 57 58 59
60 61 indiana"hwy">62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
70 71   73   75       79
3 Digit Routes (100's)
100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109
110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
120 121 122 123 124   126 127 128 129
130 131 132 133 134 135 136      
140 141 142 143 144 145 146   148 149
    152   154   156 157 158 159
160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168  
3 Digit Routes (200's)
  201 202 203   205     208  
210 211 212 213     216   218 219
220 221   223   225   227   229
230 231 232   234 235 236 237 238  
240 241   243 244 245 246     249
250   252       256 257 258 259
  261 262 263 264 265 266 267   269
3 Digit Routes (300's +)
301 303 311 312 327 331 332 334 335 337
340 341 342 343 345 346 350 352 356 358
362 364 367 403 407 420 427 431 434 435
441 443 445 446 450 458 462 469 513 520
524 527 532 534 545 550 552 555 558 562
627 641 645 650 662 727 762 827 829 912
930 933                

Indiana's state road system has been in existence since highways were first numbered back in the late 1910's using a different numbering system than the current system. The state road system was renumbered in 1926 when US routes were introduced to the state. Since then many new state roads have been signed and some since have been deleted as well (denoted by strikethrough).

Indiana's state roads are crucial to statewide transportation. They connect the majority of Indiana's cities and communities to each other and to the national highway systems as well. Many state highways play a more localized role connecting small communities. However there are many state highways that provide a more inter-regional and statewide role such as state road 37 and state road 29. Currently Indiana's State highway system consists of 164 differently numbered state highways, some of them are segmented routes that exist in different parts of the state, such as, route 101, which has three separate segments.

The numbering scheme for state roads in Indiana follows the same principles as the national system. North-south and diagonal routes are typically given odd route numbers, and east-west routes are given even numbers. Highways are numbered lowest to highest from north to south and from west to east. There are a few exceptions to these rules due to some of the highways that run diagonally thru the state. State road numbers are allowed to be duplicated with Interstate Highway numbers but are not allowed to duplicate US Highway numbers. For instance, state road 6, and state road 31 would not be allowed, because those numbers are being used by US-6 and US-31, however there is a state road 65 and a state road 70 even though those numbers are used for Interstate highways as well.

Indiana's highways are constantly being upgraded and widened, especially in high traffic locations. There are plans to upgrade several state roads in Indiana, Including Upgrades and extensions to state road 62/66 (Lloyd Expressway) in Evansville, and SH-37 in Noblesville. More information on future plans for Indiana's state highways can be found on the Visions page, or for more history about Indiana's state roads see the History page.

COUNTY HIGHWAYS

Indiana does not have a set of official county highways within the state, however county road 144 exists as a gap closure for two disconnected sections of state road 144. and was using the traditional county route shield.

Most counties use a grid numbering system. Roads are numbered on a grid starting based on how far in miles they are from the meridian line (running north and south) and the base line (which runs east-west). For instance Road 200N is located 2 miles north of the base line, and 750E is located 7.5 miles east of the meridian line.

As Indiana looks to continue deleting lesser important state roads from the state highway system it may indicate the need to have a numbered county highway system to take over decommisioned state roads. These routes would be marked with a special county route shield. And numbers could be asigned to fit into the existing county route system see the city and county routes page for more information on this idea. In addition cities left disconnected from the state highway system can also be linked using such a system