The Interstate 69 interchange at County Line Road opened last summer. The Smith Valley Road interchange is set to open later this year, the last interchange to be completed as part of the I-69 project in Johnson County.
DAILY JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
By the end of this year, all major work on Interstate 69 in Johnson County will be complete.
That’s when Indiana Department of Transportation officials expect the interchange at Smith Valley Road to be finished, a development that follows the 2022 openings of the County Road 144 and County Line Road interchanges. Next year, they expect the entire interstate extension, from Martinsville to Interstate 465 in Indianapolis, to be fully open to drivers.
The $2 billion, 26-mile stretch of interstate, known as the I-69 Finish Line project, has been more than 50 years in the making. While I-69 between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis opened in 1971, it took until the early 2000s for state officials to make the southern part of the project a priority, and until 2008 for construction to begin.
The opening of I-69 through the County Road 144 interchange in December marked the completion of I-69 through Morgan County. The stretch of road to be built in Johnson and Marion counties this year and next will end the project’s decade-long march north from Evansville.
At the intersection of Smith Valley Road and State Road 37, the on and off-ramps for the future interchange have started to take shape. Last week, workers poured concrete over a new bridge, one that will connect Smith Valley Road east and west of I-69 once the interchange is complete. Once the interchange opens, construction workers will close off the intersection of Fairview Road and State Road 37, marking the last traffic signal removal in the county for the project, INDOT spokesperson Don Conner said.
In Marion County, construction crews are working on finishing the final two interchanges of the project. The Southport Road overpass is complete, and construction crews are now working on ramp improvements in preparation for a Spring 2024 interchange completion date, Conner said in an email.
The Interstate 465 interchange with I-69 is also set to open next year. I-465 is also undergoing changes in preparation for increased traffic from I-69. On Friday, construction crews will start work to add a lane in each direction on I-465 between Interstate 70 and Interstate 65. Last year, workers demolished and rebuilt bridges over I-465 on Mann Road, the Mooresville Road bypass, Madison Avenue, Keystone Avenue and Carson Avenue to accommodate I-465 expansion.
The completion of I-69, which will allow drivers to travel from Evansville to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan without stopping, will cut down travel times between Martinsville and Indianapolis by 11 minutes and result in 1,300 fewer crashes a year, Conner said.
Mainline construction, or work to bring State Road 37 up to interstate quality in Johnson County will take place throughout the year between State Road 144 and Fairview Road. The final mainline section from Fairview Road to I-465 is set to be constructed in 2024. Last year, several county roads in White River Township were converted to dead ends and access roads were built to take local traffic around the interstate.
The completion of I-69 poses some challenges for Johnson County officials and commuters, however, who will have to contend with increased traffic in an area that is already seeing new development, said Luke Mastin, county highway director.
The first priority is to widen Smith Valley Road. In the next few years, county officials will undertake a $50 million project to widen Smith Valley Road to two lanes in each direction from Mullinix Road just east of State Road 37 to Restin Road, just west of State Road 135. The project has faced delays because of difficulties finding funding sources for what will be the most extensive road project the county has ever pursued, Mastin said.
The project will likely be completed in sections, going from west to east, funded by money from the county’s general fund and the Economic Development Income Tax, or EDIT, which will generate money for the county government starting this year. The project can be expedited if county officials are able to secure state and federal funding, he said.
With new development south of Smith Valley Road and increased traffic flow from I-69, there will likely be an increase of 13,000 to 14,000 vehicles a day on the road by 2035, double what it is currently, Mastin said.
“Smith Valley Road is already a main east-west road in a more populated area,” Mastin said. “The land south of Smith Valley Road has not been developed yet. In addition to that, the interchanges bring the possibility of development of existing properties and things that may be traffic generators themselves, such as stores and restaurants possibly built near the interchanges.”
Road expansion plans are already in place on County Line Road, also fed by an interchange. With counties controlling their southern and eastern boundary roads per state law, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works is leading the County Line Road project, which will add travel lanes in both directions and a continuous turn lane on the road between State Road 37/I-69 and State Road 135.
Construction crews will also improve pedestrian mobility on both sides of County Line Road by adding a new 10-foot wide trail on the Marion County side and a new six-foot wide sidewalk on the Johnson County side with the intention of increasing safety for bicyclists, pedestrians and those who live in the neighborhoods nearby. The project will likely cost about $40 million, paid for by the city of Indianapolis and signed interlocal agreements with Greenwood and Johnson County for work south of County Line Road, with construction beginning by the end of the year and continuing through 2025.
While there are no set plans for it yet, county transportation officials will likely seek to increase the number of lanes on County Road 144 near I-69. Similar to new housing developments that will increase traffic on Smith Valley Road, future development in the southern part of White River Township, along with the completion of I-69, will likely almost triple traffic on County Road 144 by 2035, Mastin said.
“We’re confident at least some portion (of County Road 144) between I-69 and downtown Bargersville would need to be two lanes in each direction,” he said. “Whether that needs to be continued east all the way through downtown Bargersville, we’ll have a better idea once we start to see what the traffic changes look like.”
County officials will also look at possible expansions to Morgantown Road, an arterial road that connects with Smith Valley Road and County Road 144 and serves multiple schools, including Center Grove High School, he said.
While the I-69 project will likely increase traffic, it will bring more business to the area as well, Mastin said.
“It’s obviously a big change from what we’re used to with State Road 37, but it does come with the benefit of potential additional new development near the interchanges, such as new businesses, that will provide benefits to residents in the area,” he said. “In addition to that, there are improvements for traveling to Indianapolis whether for work or recreation, expediting the time it takes to get to Indy.”
MORE INFORMATION
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