Indiana Projects
Indiana has several projects on the drawing board to help meet transportation needs for the next 25 years. Many of the projects have been started already, and Indiana's aggressive approach to building roads put through a series of major projects to make key improvements to Indiana's road network. This effort was known as Major Moves. While this fixed many issues regarding freeways and state roads, it did not address the plethora of problems with local and county road systems. More on this in the Indiana Road Report.
Major Moves
Major Moves was a road building initiative started by Governor Mitch Daniels and Indiana's legislators that helped rebuild many of indianas aging main routes and pave the way for several key corrridor projects including the Fort to Port, Hoosier Heartland and the still to be completed I-69 extension. Major Moves 2020 is an extension of that program that seeks to expand upon that program and continue making upgrades to major highways in the major metro areas such as: Indy, Northwest Indiana, Fort Wayne, and around the state.
What paid for Major Moves, Indiana used the Lease of it's Toll Road to a private consortium to fund these needed improvements. and Eventually the construction of new toll roads will also be privatized as well to help raise the capital needed to fund additional road construction.
Additionally many projects still need to be completed such as statewide widening of several highways such as: I-65, I-70, I-80/90 (Indiana Toll Road) I-94 and I-69. It also included major improvements to highways all over the state. The key is how is the state going to pay for it. That creates some key funding challenges when road upkeep and infrastructure improvements are not built into the state's transportation budget. The Idea is being bandied about of raising the per gallon tax on gasoline (which was already recently increased) an additional ten cents ($0.10) per gallon and the coup de gras is that the state wants to place electronic tolling on virtually every “freeway” in the state, meaning there would be almost no freeways left in the state. More on this on the Indiana Tolling page
Projects
Interstate 65 Corridor
Interstate 65 statewide needs to be upgraded to a minimum 6 lane corridor with some sections being widened to 8 or more lanes depending on traffic volumes. Several sections of I-65 have already been widened including
- South of I-465 split to Southport Road (8-lanes)
- I-865 to Lebanon (SR-32 (6-lanes)
- Lafayette, SR-32 to Wabash River (6-lanes)
- Northwest Indiana from US-30 to SR-2 (6-lanes)
- Southern Indiana I-265 to Memphis (6-lanes)
This leaves several sections of Interstate 65 that are yet to be widened to 6 lanes.
North Lebanon Widening
This project will be completed in 2 phases. Phase 1 widen the Freeway from SR-32 to SR-47 from 4 to 6 lanes and remove the left exit off-ramp to Lafayette Ave in Lebanon. The project is expected to begin construction in 2021 and run through 2022. Phase 2 will replace the closed off-ramp with a new right exiting flyover ramp to Lafayette Ave. This project could tentatively enter construction in 2024. INDOT
Columbus to Seymour Widening
This project will widen the Freeway from US-50 to SR-58 from 4 to 6 lanes and remove the left exit off-ramp to Lafayette Ave in Lebanon. The project is currently under construction and expected to be completed in 2021. The project will also rehabilitate pavement north of SR-58 to SR-46 near Columbus. INDOT
Lafayette Widening
This project will widen the Freeway from SR 38 to the Wabash River bridge from 4 to 6 lanes. This project has been completed. Construction of a new widened Wabash river bridge is still underway and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020. Once complete widening northward to White county is entirely possible but that has not been determined at this time.
This will widen the freeway from just south of SR-2 to the US 30 junction from 4 to 6 lanes. This project has been completed.
Interstate 69 Corridor
Martinsville to Indianapolis
Will Construct a new 4 lane freeway/expressway within the existing State Road 37 alignment. A new system interchange will be constructed just west of the current SR-37/Harding Street interchange on I-465 in order to connect the new interstate to the existing freeway. Some new right of way will be required and some new frontage roads and access roads will be constructed inconjunction with the project. This project is in the planning/bidding and final engineering phase. Expect the segments near indianapolis including the new system interchange at I-465 to be completed last. Construction timeframes are not known at this time but construction is expected to begin in 2020. More Information
Ohio River Crossing
Will Construct new 4 lane toll bridge across the Ohio river from Evansville to Henderson KY - Possible KTC project. This project is being studied as 3 posible alternatives. Option 1 would replace the existing structure with a new 6-lane bridge located immediately to the west of the existing structure. The existing structure would be taken out of use. Option 2 also builds a new 4 lane bridge just to the west of the new structure. One span of the existing structure would remain open for maintaining one lane in each direction for local traffic. Option 3 a new structure located on a new alignment located to the east. As in option 2 one span of the existing structure would remain open for maintaining one lane in each direction for local traffic. More Information
US 31 Corridor
Marshall County J-Turns
US 31 J-Turns intersections to be added at SR-10/Dewey St and SR-110 in Marshall county.
Long Term
Upgrade US 31 to full interstate freeway standards and construct bypasses around major cities (i.e. Kokomo). Construction to be completed in stages. Completed Hamilton County, Komomo Bypass, South Bend Bypass. full grade separation and upgrade to freeway of remaining section north and south of Kokomo
US24 J-Turns
US 24 J-Turns in Cass County ... US 24 at Logansport Road ... US 24 at CR 600 East
Illiana Expressway
Construct Toll Road from I-65 to I-57 south of the Chicago Metro Area Project Status: Abandoned/Deferred - Construct the toll road as a possible ultimate bypass and relocation for I-80 south of Chicago