Traffic relief ahead: Rush-hour grind will ease with ramp revamp

Greenwood resident Greg Riley puttered along on Interstate 465 at 17 mph while driving home Monday evening.

Riley ran into the same problem he does every evening: Traffic backs up while drivers try to go south on Interstate 65.

He estimates he sometimes spends as much as half of his 40-minute commute from Keystone at the Crossing on the northside crawling along while trying to get onto the I-65 exit, so he can head back home.

But Riley and other commuters should have a faster commute in a few years.

The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to revamp the intersection of I-65 and I-465, where commuters often face congestion, spokesman Nathan Riggs said.

The evening bottleneck at the southbound I-65 exit sometimes stretches for miles.

An overhaul should make rush hour traffic much smoother for southsiders who commute to the east or north sides of Indianapolis, Riggs said.

Workers will add a flyover ramp, widen another ramp, expand both interstates and rebuild the Sherman Drive bridge.

The project is expected to cost about $36 million. The work will be paid for with state and federal money, mainly from gas taxes, INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield said.

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