Geotechnical work has begun along the State Road 37 corridor as contractors prepare for a $124 million overhaul intended to relieve congestion.
Project leaders laid out an admittedly ambitious timeline for the multi-year project at a kickoff meeting with key stakeholders May 16. If all goes as planned, construction will start in late 2018 or early 2019.
Preliminary plans call for replacing traffic signals from 126th Street to 146th Street with roundabout-like interchanges. The county and the city of Fishers are each contributing $12 million to the project, and the Indiana Department of Transportation is providing $100 million.
A second phase north of 146th Street also is on the drawing board. When that work begins, Noblesville will kick in another $16.6 million.
Fishers is managing construction, and Mayor Scott Fadness assured all the interested parties that the remarkable collaboration that got the project off the ground will continue throughout the process.
Carmel-based engineering consultant RQAW Corp. will act as owner’s representative, and Vice President Troy Woodruff—a former INDOT executive—assured interested parties that over-communication is the goal.
In addition to quarterly stakeholder updates and regular design discussions, monthly meetings are planned to keep the business community and neighborhood groups informed. Those could begin as soon as next month.
Businesses in the largely commercial area also can sign up for email updates that they can share with their customers. Owners or managers with specific concerns or special needs can go online
to request an individual meeting.
A&F Engineering has been engaged to assist with traffic management in the project area, and Commissioner Christine Altman suggested that representatives start talking now with INDOT and the county highway department to coordinate the timing of other nearby roadwork.
City planners in Fishers and Noblesville already have begun discussing how to adapt signage standards along the highway to ensure businesses remain visible to motorists.
For ongoing information on the project, visit Fishers’
comprehensive State Road 37 website.