I-69 nighttime lane restrictions begin Wednesday

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) expects work to begin this week to improve Interstate 69 at the 116^th Street and State Road 37 interchange as part of the Operation Indy Commute project.

Milestone Contractors of Columbus, Indiana will begin placing construction signs today under an $18.1 million construction contract.  Beginning Wednesday, April 25, crews will begin nighttime right lane restrictions on northbound I-69 and SR 37 to place pavement and widen the northbound outside shoulder.  These nighttime restrictions will take place Monday through Saturday between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and are expected to continue through mid-June.

Construction in 2012 will focus on I-69 near the 116^th Street/SR 37 interchange and the northbound entrance and exit ramps.  Work will resume in 2013 on the southbound interchange area and adding lanes to I-69 between I-465 and 116^th Street.

2012 improvements to the current configuration include:

• A new flyover ramp to carry two lanes of northbound traffic from I-69 to SR 37.
• I-69 near the 116^th Street/SR 37 interchange will be restriped to allow three lanes to exit and three lanes to continue north on I-69.
• For traffic exiting I-69, there will be a three-lane split so that two lanes of traffic will continue onto northbound SR 37 and two lanes of traffic will exit at 116^th Street.
• There will be three lanes of ramp traffic north of 116^th Street.  Traffic entering I-69 will stay to the right and enter north of the new SR 37 overpass, eliminating weaving patterns for traffic on 116^th Street travelling to I-69 or SR 37.

Starting in June, construction will restrict northbound and southbound I-69 near the 116^th Street/SR 37 interchange to two lanes in each direction.  The northbound I-69 ramp to 116^th Street and SR 37 will also be limited to one lane.  Road and ramp restrictions are scheduled to end in November.

The Operation Indy Commute project is an initiative by INDOT to strategically eliminate recurring commuting bottlenecks on I-69 in Marion and Hamilton Counties.  The program is modeled after successful, quick-turnaround traffic flow improvements built in other states under the Federal Highway Administration’s Localized Bottleneck Reduction Program.  For more information on Operation Indy Commute, visit www.indycommute.indot.in.gov.