After about a decade of planning and construction, the revamp of a busy corridor in Hamilton County has been completed.
The $185 million project concluded with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and Gov. Mike Braun cutting a ribbon on May 26 to celebrate the opening of the final interchange, at 141 Street, that was reconstructed as part of the State Road 37 improvement project.
“It’s been a long journey, going back to the Pence administration,” Fadness said. “To see it come to fruition, connecting our community, enabling commerce along this very busy corridor, it’s a good day to have this project done.”
The project was a collaboration between the City of Fishers, City of Noblesville, Hamilton County and the Indiana Department of Transportation. It focused on the State Road 37 corridor from 126th Street to 146th Street and switched signalized intersections at 126th, 131st, 141st and 146th Streets to roundabout interchanges.
The interchanges include sidewalks and crosswalks to allow for pedestrian and cyclist traffic. The city has estimated more than 50,000 vehicles travel along the corridor each day on the north-south road that connects Fishers and Noblesville.
Over the years of construction, the road work caused disruptions to businesses to varying degrees because of the difficulty customers had navigating the area, and the cost of the project ballooned due to the rising costs of construction. It was estimated originally the project would cost $124 million. The price increase required the county and Fishers to find more funding.
But for Braun, the project is an example that other growing communities in the state can follow.
“It took a long time,” Braun said. “They (local officials) didn’t have the federal involvement, which probably would have doubled the cost and taken twice as long. They got the state convinced to let them control the project.”
Work on State Road 37 is continuing north of Fishers, in Noblesville. Plans are in the works from the Indiana Department of Transportation to eliminate or reduce congestion at four signalized intersections on State Road 37 between Greenfield Avenue and State Road 32 but construction has not yet begun.
Fadness thanked the small business along State Road 37 for sticking through the years of construction, and said the project was all about improving the quality of life for residents.
“This road used to divide our community,” Fadness said. “Today it connects our community both from a pedestrian and vehicular standpoint and from quality of life. If you’re trying to get your kid to soccer practice it just got a whole lot easier. If you’re trying to get to work, it just got a whole lot easier. Those quality of life things really do matter.”
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @Jake_Allen19. Click here to get Hamilton County news sent straight to your inbox and subscribe to the IndyStar North newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Drivers rejoice: Fishers’ State Road 37 improvement project complete
Reporting by Jake Allen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
