Source: Frank Armstrong / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Department of Transportation says delays from summer construction projects around Indianapolis are slowing motorists.
Add this one to the list: I-65 just north of I-465 will be closed from 8 p.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday.
INDOT crews will be placing beams at the Traders Lane overpass as the latest work in a long list of construction projects happening on the west side of Indianapolis.
Lindsey Berggren, who drives her husband to work in Indianapolis from Anderson, said, “If the traffic is backed up or we have to slow down letting people on and off, it sometimes takes up to two hours.”
Downtown Indianapolis is about 40 miles from downtown Indianapolis.
Berggren says she’s noticed a huge increase in traffic on I-70 since a portion of I-465 is closed on the city’s south and southwest sides. She worries about confusion and chaos on the roads.
“There’s been a lot of dangerous situations with people not knowing where to go. The cones aren’t exactly laid out properly either” she said.
More closures, including on-ramps from I-465 southbound to 56th Street, are already in progress until Tuesday.
INDOT spokesperson Kyleigh Cramer told News 8 via videoconference, “We are closing the 86th northwest ramp to 465. That one is closing and then the on and off ramps to Crawfordsville Road from 465. Those are going to be restricted down to one lane.”
The closures will give crews time to work on aging overpasses and leave extra space for crews to work safely, INDOT says.
Cramer admits it’s a short-term inconvenience for drivers. “Instead of us doing intermittent, once-a-week closures for the next six years — and this is just a made-up number in my head, but it would be for several years — we did this all in a span of a month.”
I-465 westbound between I-65 and I-70, which leads to Indianapolis Indianapolis Airport, has been closed since July 8. It is due to reopen on July 28, but INDOT says that date could be moved up because construction is ahead of schedule.
