Workers marked another milestone in the Interstate 69 extension project last week, setting the final bridge beams for the Johnson County portion of the project.
Construction crews set the beams and bridge deck at Bluff Creek just south of the County Road 144 interchange. The bridge is the last of 20 bridges for Johnson and Morgan counties as part of the I-69 Finish Line project, which will complete the interstate from Martinsville to Indianapolis next year. When the project is finished, 39 new bridges will have been built and 35 existing bridges will have been rehabilitated or replaced, according to a weekly construction update from the Indiana Department of Transportation.
Elsewhere in Johnson County, there remains no direct access to or from northbound State Road 37 from Smith Valley Road. Until the Smith Valley Road interchange fully opens later this year, drivers will need to use Bluffdale Road to travel north between Smith Valley Road and County Line Road. Northbound State Road 37 will continue to be limited to a single lane in both directions under the County Road 144 bridge until work on the mainline allows traffic to switch to its proper lanes. That work is expected to be done in early November, INDOT officials say.
In Marion County, the northbound U.S. 31 ramp to eastbound Interstate 465 will close Friday at 9 p.m. for noise barrier work. It will reopen Oct. 2 at 5 a.m. The ramp will be closed for four additional weekends during the coming months. Belmont Avenue is closed from Banta Road south to the east entrance of Lighthouse Landings Apartments and in early October, Banta Road will close at State Road 37. Those closures are expected until mid-to-late October, INDOT officials say.
The eastbound ramp from Mann Road to I-465 will be closed through at least the end of October. There will likely be nighttime single-lane closures on I-465 between Kentucky Avenue and U.S. 31 next week. The closures will be a mile or less each at various locations as construction crews do maintenance and structure installation work, INDOT officials say.
