Thanks to Milestone Contractors the 65-70 split project was completed in record time! Not scheduled to re-open until November 1, the downtown interstates officially re-opened on October 17 and I, for one, could not be more grateful…now we’re back down to just the normal crazy drivers on 465 and the city streets!
The interchange closed on September 3 so that crews could began working to increase the clearance height under seven highway bridges. The bridges had been struck repeatedly by hundreds of oversized vehicles, causing a constant problem for the Indiana Department of Transportation.
Now, a note about why it was necessary to displace over 100,000 drivers a day for this project spend $12.4 million and reconstruct and lower one-half mile of pavement beneath seven bridges…it was to increase bridge clearances and reduce the potential for collisions from unpermitted and off-route trucks with oversized and unsecure loads..repeated bridge strikes from these trucks caused and continue to pose a safety concern for the users of this stretch of highway.
I understand the necessity of making the bridges safe for drivers, but once again, we are working to fix something caused by people not following the rules of our city, state and country and driving these trucks with no regard to the consequences and again, we have to pay for it from our state/federal funds. I don’t know how you would have stopped them, but I find it frustrating!
Big shout out to Milestone, thank you for getting it done so quickly and making it safe for us once again, but to those of you out there who are driving the unpermitted trucks, pay attention to your clearances and try to respect the roads your are driving on and the safety of everyone one the road with you.
Living in Indy 