Northside Strangler Interchange

The US-31 Freeway project was largely complete within the metro a few years ago but since you may have noticed there has been some major growing pains. The "Northside Strangler" interchange as we are calling it is showing evidence of some poor design decisions made by engineers that designed the interchange. In cost savings measures a decision was made to reduce the number of lanes on the connecting ramps from US-31 south to I-465 west to just one lane leaving a nasty merge situation that causes a terrible traffic snarl that has lead to fits of rage and people pounding steering wheels. At the same time The East to North transition has us scratching our heads as well as to why that connector bridge was not double laned as well. Why were the approach lanes not lengthened and the exit separated from the meridian south exit to avoid all the last minute cutting in. In both situations it is apparent that 3 lanes of traffic are trying to have to squeeze down into one and negotiate with one another to do this. In some cases this can be a recipe for disaster.

This leads to one conclusion. A retrofit of I-465 to the west of US-31 to I-865 is long overdue. The road is substandard and deteriorating. Has a dangerous left exit, and not enough through lanes to handle the traffic volume that it is currently expected to carry. Along with that, something needs to be done to address the design shortfalls of the Northside 31 Spaghetti Junction.