Motorists driving Interstate 70 should find it free of major, long-term construction projects this summer from the Illinois state line to Indianapolis.
This will be the first time in 10 years the 70-mile stretch of roadway will be free of significant work. After 10 traffic deaths on the interstate last year, many of them due to construction-related crashes, Indiana State Police welcome the respite.
“If you’re looking at it from a traffic safety standpoint, I think it would be a good thing,” he said. “When we don’t have construction, we have an occasional crash here and there, but it seems like when construction is in full swing the crashes pick up. The interstate’s been open for months now and we’ve had relatively no problem.”
Gov. Eric Holcomb traveled to Columbus earlier this month to announce a more than $1 billion investment in highway improvements around the state.
This includes a more than $143 million upgrade of Interstate 65 in southern Indiana to include additional travel lanes.
I-70’s turn is coming but it will be a few years before new lanes come to west-central Indiana, possibly funded by tolls made possible by legislation passed last year that also raised motor fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees.
The next major project on I-70 in the Terre Haute area is scheduled for this fall – a $1.5 million widening and replacement of a bridge on the city’s south side.
But the lack of activity on the interstate doesn’t mean the Terre Haute area won’t see some projects. Bids for resurfacing the 5.5 mile stretch of U.S. 41 through the city are scheduled to be opened May 10.
It will be the second attempt to get that project off the ground. A single $6.9 million bid received earlier this month exceeded the engineer’s estimate and was rejected. The city’s reconstruction of a nearly one-mile stretch of South Seventh also received only one bid but, at $455,000, was within budget and is proceeding, though the need for additional work after the project started has boosted the total cost to $550,000. Completion is scheduled for mid-June.
That few bids are being received for highway projects may be a result of basic supply and demand, said Robert Guell, economics professor at Indiana State University.
“My guess is ... the increased demand for construction labor across the board is making it hard for local projects to come in under the previous budgets,” he said. “That is a ‘cost’ of a robust economy.”