Residents in Noblesville say planned improvements between the city and Westfield on Ind. 32 by the Indiana Department of Transportation will be a major benefit as the state agency looks to ease traffic flow and reduce the number of crashes along the corridor.
The $80 million project, which isn’t expected to see construction begin until 2026, will expand the number of lanes from two to four and will add seven roundabouts at different intersections, said Nick Batta, design project manager with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, an engineering firm in Indianapolis.
The federally funded project is being driven by ongoing congestion along the corridor, in addition to crashes that have been seen in the area with an average of about 110 per year, according to Batta, who spoke during an INDOT public meeting May 17 about the project at the Prairie Waters Event Center in Westfield.
“That’s a big part of the foundation for the need of the project,” Batta said. “The alternative we proposed here is specifically targeting rear-end crashes, delays people have to (face) when they’re sitting in traffic today and reducing the amount of time it gets from downtown Westfield to downtown Noblesville.”
Preliminary design work and environmental studies as part of the project with planned construction kicking off in 2026 that will continue in 2027, according to INDOT.
As part of the project, roundabouts are being proposed at Carey Road/Grassy Branch Road, Gunther Boulevard, Moontown Road/Gray Road, Pebble Brook Boulevard/Hazel Dell Elementary School, Hazel Dell Road/Little Chicago Road, Mill Creek Road, in addition to one being added at Hague Road and the Pleasant Street extension that will be constructed by the city of Noblesville. The roundabouts will ease the flow of traffic and provide better access to side roads as well, Batta said.
An 8-foot asphalt path will also be added along both sides of the roadway, according to INDOT. The expanded lanes should also allow traffic to move more quickly through the corridor, Batta said.
“There’s so much traffic on (Ind.) 32, one lane each direction is not enough to handle it, so another lane is needed,” he said.
Noblesville’s portion of the project will take place at the Mensa Drive intersection, while improvements will continue down the corridor to the East Street intersection in Westfield. Batta said officials don’t know yet the order of construction on the project.
“It’ll be in some sort of phases, exactly the phases, we don’t quite know yet, but we’ll know by the end of the year,” Batta said.
Noblesville resident Jessica Thomas is among those who look forward to the improvements, especially since her family lives right off Ind. 32, with the expanded number of road lanes.
“I’m more curious to see how we’re going to get in and out of our neighborhood and how they’ll be able to improve that,” Thomas said. “I have a daughter who’s about to start driving and I have a little bit of a concern of getting out of the neighborhood some days, and it’s just stop-and-go to get to and from places quickly. It’ll be nice if they can move if (traffic) can move a little more efficiently.”
Other residents, such as Jane Kirkwood, also welcomed the planned changes by INDOT. Kirkwood has lived in Noblesville with her husband Mitch for 35 years and lives about a half-mile off State Road.
“Access to 32 concerns us,” Mitch Kirkwood said. “Something’s got to be done and I’m in favor of the improvements, but I’m concerned about our access.”
Jane Kirkwood agreed that the proposed improvements will be a major help once they are in place, although she said she wasn’t sure about INDOT’s projections tied to ongoing housing developments with apartments and houses being built were correct and the amount of traffic that will create.
Still, she said she wanted more information on the amount of traffic and the number of cars traveling between Noblesville and Westfield each day.
“What kind of traffic are we experiencing right now? It’s obvious it’s terrible,” she said. “We’re hoping for turn lanes so we don’t have worry about getting rear-ended when we want to make a right or left turn and you can’t expect a roundabout at every street.”
Kyleigh Cramer, public relations director for INDOT’s East-Central District, said the agency is in the “communication and conversation phase of construction” regarding the project. The current goal is to understand what the public wants as well, Cramer said.
Noblesville City Engineer Alison Krupski said the project is one that the city is excited about and noted that congestion remains the biggest issue in Noblesville.
“That is a big cause of accidents when there’s a lot of congestion,” Krupski said. “Even driving here, you could see traffic backed up all the way from Noblesville to Westfield, so this project is very much needed.”
The Hague Road roundabout that is planned at Pleasant Street and State Road 32 won’t be completed until 2025, according to Krupski. There will be routes to get around State Road 32 construction into downtown Noblesville since the Pleasant Street improvement project will be completed at that point, she added.
An overview of the State Road 32 project
Roundabouts at intersections:
- Carey Road/Grassy Branch Road
- Gunther Boulevard
- Moontown Road/Gray Road
- Pebble Brook Boulevard/Hazel Dell Elementary School
- Hazel Dell Road/Little Chicago Road
- Mill Creek Road
- Hague Road/Pleasant Street extension (to be constructed by city of Noblesville)
Pedestrian paths:
- 8-foot asphalt paths along both sides of the roadway
- Grass buffer between path and road where where space permits
- Connection to paths in Westfield, Noblesville and Midland Trace
Crash rates:
- Average of about 110 crashes per year
- Approximately 70% of crashes are rear-end incidents
- Approximately 14% of crashes involved incapacitating injuries
More information: improvetomove32.com.
