County officials are making another push for aesthetic improvements to future Interstate 69 interchanges, need funding to improve Center Grove area roads that will see more traffic and have concerns about drainage both during the construction phase and after it is complete.
Interstate 69 will be built through northwest Johnson County with construction expected to start in the coming years. The Johnson County Commissioners and the county highway department are making sure the Indiana Department of Transportation keeps the county’s interest in mind as the planning phase ends and construction begins.
County officials sent an 18-page letter to the Indiana Department of Transportation this week that outlines discussion items and county interests that officials want INDOT to be aware of when they begin building the interstate through the western edge of the county in the next few years.
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Construction on the final section of I-69, a $1.5 billion project from Martinsville to Indianapolis, was set to begin earlier this year, with work in the Martinsville area on new access roads and overpasses. Plans for the interstate have long been approved and the state has begun buying property in the county to make way for the interstate. Johnson County’s section will follow the path of State Road 37 through the county with interchanges at County Road 144, near Bargersville, Smith Valley Road and County Line Road.
Road improvements the county might need to make to roads in White River Township ready for more traffic, specifically County Road 144, Smith Valley Road, and Morgantown Road are included in the letter. The price tag on readying those roads alone is estimated to cost $92 million, the letter said. That work is the responsibility of the county, not the state.
But INDOT is being asked to extend Bluff Road south to the Smith Valley Road and Mullinix Road intersection. The extension is needed to keep traffic out of the Wakefield subdivision, which could pose a safety hazard, according o the letter.
The letter also outlines county questions and plans, including aesthetic recommendations for interchange locations, which include landscaping improvements and community-based decorative pieces. County highway officials want a say in how the interchanges in the county will look, Luke Mastin, Johnson County Highway Department director, said.
All of the six items listed in the letter have already been addressed in meetings with INDOT and their contractors. The letter is a way to compile all of the items in one place and was compiled partly at the request of INDOT, Mastin said.
“Ultimately interstates get built once, so our primary goal is to make sure we coordinate and work together with INDOT to make sure this is done right,” he said.
Other communities that have or will have Interstate 69 corridors, such as Martinsville and Bloomington, worked with INDOT on the same types of questions, including packages for landscaping and other design elements at their interchanges, said Scott Manning, strategic communications director for the Indiana Department of Transportation.
INDOT has worked with other communities to get aesthetic elements built during the construction of the interstate when they could, although the community where the interstate is placed would then be responsible for long-term maintenance, Manning said.
The state also requested a letter from the county to make requests and questions more formalized and in one place after multiple talks with county officials regarding questions and plans, he said.
Knowing the county’s plans, such as impacts of county roads and other issues, allow INDOT to help county officials work through some of the issues to find solutions, Manning said.
County officials want all of their plans and questions in one place to help coordinate better with INDOT while the interstate is being built, Mastin said.
“What we are looking for is their assistance in whatever method that might be,” he said.
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Here are the main points of a letter county officials sent to INDOT:
Aesthetic enhancements at interchanges
Johnson County’s I-69 Corridor Plan provides aesthetic recommendations for interchange locations, including both overpass bridge enhancements and potential landscaping improvements. Community based pieces could be considered.
County road improvements needed due to I-69
Historically, Johnson County has been able to focus on making improvements at key intersections in White River Township to maximize traffic volumes on the two-lane road network. The loss of existing access locations on State Road 37 coupled with capacity problems on State Road 135 both now and in the future result in the need for significant acceleration of road improvement projects on County Road 144, Smith Valley Road and Morgantown Road. The county is estimating $92 million in funding need for capacity improvements on just these three roads identified in the I-69 Corridor Plan.
A frontage road on the east side of I-69
The frontage roads proposed along I-69 provide great connectivity along the west side of the Interstate, but leave two key components on the east side unaddressed . The construction of an overpass at Fairview Road provided a reasonable route for traffic to access the Smith Valley Road interchange utilizing the west frontage road. However, without the construction of this overpass, the extension of Bluff Road south to the Smith Valley Road and Mullinix Road intersection is needed. Without this frontage road extension, traffic will be routed through the Wakefield neighborhood in order to reach Smith Valley Road. The proposed utilization of neighborhood streets as traffic collecting routes poses serious safety concerns. Additionally, extension of the east side frontage road from Stones Crossing Road north to at least Olive Branch Road, if not further, provides additional access to the County Road 144 interchange from the north, potentially reducing conflicts between interstate access traffic and school traffic in the area of the Center Grove school campus at Morgantown Road and Stones Crossing Road.
Coordination of drainage design for new I-69 bridges and culverts
With the close proximity of the White River, a significant amount of land in Johnson County near State Road 37 is located within either studied or unstudied floodplain. The county would appreciate coordination with INDOT regarding the sizing of new drainage structures on I-69, as changes to the existing structure sizes could result in changes to the floodplain areas on the east side of the future interstate.
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