LOCAL: 6 Mile Stretch of I-70 To Be Shut Down Thursday
VIA The Indy Star:
In three days, more than 100,000 commuters and airport-bound travelers will have to find their way around one of the most unusual, single-day highway closures in the state’s history.
On Thursday, a corporate “day of service” featuring 8,500 Eli Lilly and Co. employees planting trees, shrubs and flowers to enhance the western gateway into the city will force the shutdown of a six-mile stretch of I-70 from Downtown Indianapolis to I-465.
State officials and a national highway expert said Friday they could not recall another scheduled closure of a major federal highway that had nothing to do with road construction or a presidential visit.
The highway will be closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., which means both the morning and evening rush hours will feel the pain.
Thousands of commuters from Mooresville, Plainfield, Avon and Brownsburg — even those who don’t normally use I-70 — will find it more difficult to get to work. Same for those heading to and from the airport, where a typical Thursday sees 300 flights and about 20,000 passengers coming and going.
And thanks to the state’s official detour — I-465 around the Southside — a large percentage of that traffic will meet up with thousands of more commuters coming into the city from the Greenwood area. It will not be a friendly meeting.
“I assume the intersection of I-65 and I-465 on the Southside would be a place to avoid that day,” said Southside commuter John Mullin.
But that won’t be the only hot spot.
City officials expect thousands of commuters will avoid the highway completely and flood onto city streets such as Washington, Raymond and Harding streets and Kentucky Avenue.
Major intersections to avoid: Shelby and Raymond streets and Harding and Raymond streets.
And they also warn: Avoid 10th Street and 38th Street because of construction projects that will not be stopped that day.
“They are going to be very congested, we know that,” said Sarah Holsapple, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Public Works. “We do plan to have extra people out in full force monitoring the traffic.
Many readers of The Star have raised the question: Why not a weekend?
“I am a truck driver, and this is bull,” said Randy Durham, Indianapolis. “They don’t close the highway and have ‘truck-driver day,’ but they are gonna do it to plant some trees? What a joke.”
Carole Copeland, corporate communications manager for Eli Lilly, said a weekday event was the only way to get 8,500 people to volunteer for the project.
“If it was moved to a weekend, we estimated we would get half as many participants,” Copeland said.
And they will need a lot of helping hands.
The project, co-sponsored by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, will include:
Planting 1,614 trees. (It will take 16 semis to bring them in.)
995 shrubs.
71,309 perennials. (Another 24 semis are needed.)
6,172 yards of soil. (206 dump trucks)
2,658 yards of mulch. (Another 206 dump trucks.)
The project is being paid for by a $1 million grant from Lilly to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and another $1 million from federal transportation enhancement dollars, according to Copeland.
No local public tax dollars will be used.
The result: The highway’s green spaces will be a lot greener and the interchanges at Meridian, Illinois/Capitol, West, Harding and Sam Jones Expressway will be transformed into what officials say will be “a more welcoming entrance to Indianapolis.”
And with plenty of time to grow before the Super Bowl comes in 2012.
And if it rains?
The show must go on, but “we’ll all be a bit dirtier,” Copeland said.
Getting the word out
State highway officials plan to use police cars and other barriers to close down the highway Thursday morning. No concrete barriers will be used.
That’s an issue, because the last time there was a major highway closure — the Hyperfix construction project in 2003, when I-65/I-70 between the north and south splits was reconstructed over a period of several weeks — a motorist plowed through barricades and crashed, despite all the signs and the presence of construction equipment.
Ashley Hungate, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said highway warning signs will begin to alert motorists as far west as the I-70 Plainfield exit at Ind. 267 and as far east as the Mount Comfort exit in Hancock County.
Trucking companies have also been notified and have adjusted their drivers’ routes that day.
Commuters are also deciding their routes.
Linda Glass, a Greenfield resident, will be catching a flight on Thursday and has pondered which way to go: Does she jump on I-465 right away or take I-70 into Downtown and use the official detour?
“The flight actually leaves at 7 p.m., but we plan on arriving at the airport by 5,” Glass said. “I always take 70 all the way, and on a good traffic day, I can usually make it in 50 minutes.”
On Thursday, it may take longer.
“We’ve been communicating (this) to passengers and visitors for several weeks,” said airport spokeswoman Susan Sullivan. “We’ve posted information on the website, sent out news releases and used social media tools, including Twitter and Facebook, to spread the word.”
Kim Borgman, a Hendricks County resident, is ready.
Her daily commute is usually pretty simple. From Hendricks County she jumps on I-465 and heads south to I-70, then east into the city, where she works.
On Thursday, it will get a wee bit more complicated.
“I’m going to have to go down Crawfordsville Road, past the Speedway, south, and pick up Holt Road. Then over I-70 to Morris Street. And then east to our office,” Borgman said.
“It may take five more minutes. With stoplights, possibly 10. But, if I have to fight a bunch of other people, who knows?”
Amy Harris, who lives in Decatur Township, plans to use Kentucky Avenue and South Street to get to her office building Downtown on Meridian Street. And unlike many anonymous comments blasting Eli Lilly for their expected commuting headache, Harris offered a different take.
“Eli Lilly has supported (the city) for a long time, and I am glad they are giving back,” she said. “One day of inconvenience is no biggie to me.”
