FISHERS —Commuters between Anderson and Indianapolis may get an extra travel lane on Interstate 69 under plans to widen the route.
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is proposing several big changes, including widening the interstate to three lanes from Fishers to the southwest corner of Madison County at exit 214. The construction project would also include major changes to the exit 210 interchange at Noblesville.
At a recent public meeting in Fishers, Rickie Clark, with the INDOT Office of Public Involvement, outlined the plan to a full house at the Fishers City Hall auditorium. Clark said careful study has shown a need for I-69 expansion and a safer way to control traffic at exit 210.
Clark specifically mentioned events at Klipsch Music Center causing traffic to back up on I-69.
“When there are events at Klipsch we have vehicles stopped on the highway,” Clark said. “That’s a very unsafe situation that we want to fix.”
Currently, I-69 northbound is three lanes until just north of exit 205. Southbound the interstate expands to three lanes as traffic from exit 205 heads to Marion County.
The proposed project, slated to begin in 2016, would push the three lanes north another nine miles to the Ingalls/Lapel exit.
Tim Millikan and Larry Spilker, both Ingalls Town Council members, were at the INDOT meeting on Thursday asking officials if there were any plans to redesign the 214 exit as well.
Millikan said that since the new Love’s Truck Stop had opened, traffic on and near exit 214 has increased dramatically. He said officials were hoping INDOT could do ease congestion, similar to what they have proposed at exit 210.
Project engineers told the Ingalls officials that the new plans did not include any work on 214 because the study for this project had been conducted in 2013 -- before construction on Love’s had begun. Millikan did say, however, that INDOT was looking into conducting a study of the area.
“We think with the traffic we have now we need some changes,” Millikan said. “And it seems like they are going to be looking into it.”
Spilker said three lanes of traffic on I-69 should help break up congestion at the exit for the time being.
Project designers said I-69 will have two lanes open during much of the construction. There will be some night lane closures but during the day, there will be two lanes in both directions. The plan is to create a lane on the shoulder while crews expand the highway into the median. At some point in the construction, one of the northbound lanes will cross to the other side of the highway resulting in three lanes on one side and one on the other. The proposal will also have the lanes then switch sides as crews finish the expansion.
Clark said there has to be a balancing act between inconveniencing the residents and people who use I-69 on a daily basis and making the roadways better for them.
“The question we have to ask is how do we do all this with the smallest impact to the stakeholders?” Clark said. “We try to take that very seriously.”
The proposal still needs approval from a few environmental agencies. INDOT spokesman Nathan Riggs said the agency is still taking bids to complete the exit 210 interchange.