One of Hamilton County’s most congested intersections will soon be improved. Utility work on the Allisonville Road and 146th Street intersection will begin this spring. Contract bidding is expected to begin December, with construction scheduled to start in spring 2023. The work will create a grade-separated roundabout interchange, with 146th Street built over Allisonville Road via an overpass bridge.
Construction is expected to be complete by December 2024. The project is expected to cost approximately $37 million. Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt said $9.5 million will be funded through the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization. The remaining amount will come from the county’s major bridge fund.
“I wish we could have done (the project) it sooner, but unfortunately, it comes down to money,” Heirbrandt said. “It was a long, drawn-out process, and we were successful in getting $9.5 million from the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which was significant. It was one of their largest grants they were able to give out.”
Heirbrandt said improving 146th Street and Allisonville Road is long overdue.
“146th Street was originally built out for 25 years of expected growth, and that’s one of the most traveled roads we have in the county, east to west. It is a major artery,” Heirbrandt said.
Heirbrandt said Conner Prairie, at 13400 Allisonville Rd., Fishers, is at the center of Allisonville Road traffic congestion and will benefit when the project is finished.
“People forget about that, especially Symphony on the Prairie,” Heirbrandt said. “This will help significantly when it’s complete to get people out of there safely and back to their homes.”
At a Feb. 9 public information meeting at the Delaware Township Community Center in Fishers, Hamilton County Highway Engineer Jim Neal said the county began the design phase of widening 146th Street to four lanes in 1997. At that time, average daily traffic was projected to surpass 26,000 vehicles a day by 2020, but it exceeded that figure in 2007. Now, the number is more than 44,000 vehicles per day.
Neal called the traffic growth “aggressive.”
“We are just continuing to get crazy traffic up there,” he said.
The project includes constructing exit and entrance ramps connecting 146th Street to Allisonville Road, along with new storm sewer systems. New or reconstructed 8-foot pedestrian paths will be installed on the west, south and east legs of the project. It also will include reconstructing the northern parking lot at Northridge Retirement Facility, a new entrance to the Willow Crest neighborhood on the southeast quadrant of the project and will be available via a reconstructed Sowers Drive.
Motorists will be able to access Willow Crest through an entrance off 146th Street via Lynn Avenue, but that road will be turned into a cul-de-sac. The only entrance to Willow Crest will be via a U-turn where vehicles travel south on Allisonville Road, make a U-turn in a designated area and enter the neighborhood in a reconstructed entrance on Sowers Drive. The westbound and eastbound bridges carrying 146th Street over the White River will be widened to include acceleration and deceleration lanes.
Northbound and southbound traffic on Allisonville Road is expected to close for a short duration during construction, but 146th Street will remain open throughout. By the time work begins, the Ind. 37 project will be complete, and Ind. 37 will likely be used as the alternative route for northbound and southbound traffic.
For more, visit hamiltoncounty.in.gov/directory.aspx?EID=78.
By the numbers
- 44,000-plus: The number of vehicles that travel through the Allisonville Road and 146th Street intersection daily.
- $40 million: The cost of improving the intersection with a grade-separated roundabout interchange.
- 2023: The year the project is expected to begin construction.
- 2024: The year the project is expected to complete construction.
