Infrastructure News Summary
For May 23, 2008

ROAD ADVOCATE SUGGESTS VALLEY BYPASS
SAYS ROAD MAY HELP DRIVERS AVOID FLOODS
The Times-Mail
Roger Moon
5/22/08

WEST BADEN SPRINGS - Although pleased about the state's planned highway projects in Orange County's Springs Valley community, highway improvement advocate Bill Schrader talked to state transportation leaders Wednesday about how flooding can still impede travel in the area. Schrader, from Bedford, is chairman of the Ind. 37/145 Association, which met Wednesday for an update on road projects already scheduled in Orange County. INDOT's Sam Sarvis, deputy commissioner for INDOT's Vincennes District, talked about the role that Major Moves money now plays in the state's highway construction and improvement projects. Major Moves money comes from the state's lease of the Indiana Toll Road. http://www.tmnews.com/stories/2008/05/22/news.nw-470770.tms

STATE LINE ROAD CLOSURE DELAYED
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
5/22/08

State Line Road will be closed a half-mile south of U.S. 24 beginning June 2, the Indiana Department of Transportation announced Thursday. The closure was originally schedule to begin next week, but was postponed because of utility relocations, INDOT said. Crews will be moving dirt to build a fill for construction of a bridge over the new alignment of U.S. 24 for the Fort to Port project. http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080522/LOCAL/593333834/1002/LOCAL

STATE TO FIX CONGESTED INTERSECTION
WISH-TV
5/22/08

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Help is on the way for Hoosiers who drive along one of Indianapolis' most congested intersections. 24-Hour News 8 featured the I-465-37 Harding Street interchange in our special report "Top Eight Worst Roads." It's chaos if you have to drive the 465-37 Harding Street interchange because of the number of accidents and traffic back-ups. The Department of Transportation now says enough is enough. Road improvements have been made further south. Now plans call for additional work closer to the I-465 interchange. "Essentially what this project will do is widen out the ramps and also the intersection of S.R. 37 and Thompson Road to help deal with some congestion issues and also tie it in with some of the improvements we did south of Thompson Road that we did last year," said Will Wingfield, INDOT spokesperson. The project is designed to streamline the flow of traffic in the southwest corridor but it will also help in the long term. http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8363393&nav=menu35_2
Also, http://www.ss-times.com/?p=888
Also, http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/LOCAL/805230411/1001/NEWS

HIGHWAY 41 PROJECT TO COST $5.9M
OFFICIALS GIVE CONSTRUCTION CEREMONIAL START
The Tribune-Star
Sue Loughlin
5/21/08

TERRE HAUTE - An interchange improvement project at U.S. 41 and Interstate 70 may cause some temporary traffic headaches, but in the long run, it will improve traffic flow and ease congestion, officials said Wednesday. In a related project, the city is creating a park-like "gateway entry" at the interchange's northwest quadrant. State and local officials conducted a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Major Moves project. The total project cost, including the city's gateway entry, is $5.9 million. The project "will make it safer and easier for motorists to travel through this area," said Alan Plunkett, Crawfordsville District deputy commissioner with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The project will add dual left turn lanes on U.S. 41 for eastbound and westbound traffic onto I-70, and the on-ramps will be widened. Now, during peak traffic periods, motorists can be backed up on U.S. 41 as they wait to make left turns onto I-70. http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_story_142235914.html?keyword=topstory

BROADWAY PROJECT SHOULD BE MOVED UP
Post Tribune
5/22/08

Indiana 53 -- better known as Broadway to most area residents -- is one of the shortest state roads in Indiana and was once one of the most diverse. Broadway starts at the U.S. Steel gates in Gary and heads south for 14 miles, where it ends at U.S. 231 in Crown Point. It is a four-lane highway except the last three miles, which are two-lane. The state has the last three miles slated for widening in 2012. Those three miles of two-lane highway are undergoing a remarkable transformation from agriculture to business. Gayle Van Sessen, executive director of the Greater Crown Point Chamber of Commerce, and Mayor David Urban said waiting four years for widening wasn't within reason. http://www.post-trib.com/news/opinion/965058,edit.article