MORGAN COUNTY — If all goes according to plan, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will close a 5-mile stretch of Ind. 37 through Martinsville on Jan. 2 — one week from today.
The highway’s closure is the culmination of a multiyear planning process at both the local and state level.
Officials from INDOT announced the plan to close the stretch of highway from the Ind. 39 interchange to Morgan Street during a public meeting on Sept. 17, 2018.
The closure is part of the state’s efforts to upgrade Ind. 37 from Martinsville to Indianapolis to interstate standards — and completing I-69 through Indiana.
At this point, the only thing that could cause a slight delay to the closure of the highway is weather, according to I-69 Finish Line Project Manager Sarah Rubin.
Rubin said that one of the reasons for the full closure was for safety.
“Not only for the safety of the workers, but also the safety for the motoring public,” Rubin said.
The closure also allows the work to be complete in one construction season, as opposed to stretching it over two years.
“So, we are able to mobilize more forces out there and get more accomplished in a single construction season,” Rubin noted.
The first thing that motorists will likely notice is the detour of traffic from Ind. 37 over to the Ind. 39 bypass.
The state’s official detour uses Ind. 39, Ind. 67 and Ind. 144.
Tim Miller, a senior project manager with HNTB, said that several traffic signals — at Burton Lane, Ohio Street/Mahalasville Road and Ind. 44 — will be removed but the intersections will remain open for two-way traffic.
With such a drastic change to traffic patterns coming up, Martinsville Fire Chief Kevin Greene asked local residents to plan ahead and get to know some of those changes before the closure of the highway.
“People need to get out and physically drive the roads before we get this influx of traffic,” Greene said.
For example, many locals are probably used to Jefferson Street between Washington and Morgan streets being a one-way heading north — but it is now a one-way heading south.
The stop signs that were once at Morgan and Jefferson streets have also been removed in recent weeks.
At Burton Lane and the Ind. 39 bypass, a traffic signal has been constructed to help with traffic flow.
Local impact
While the 5-mile stretch of Ind. 37 will be closed to motorists, vehicles will be able to cross the highway at select points.
Martinsville Director of Planning and Engineering Gary Oakes said that in recent years, the city has put in work to get some of its local roads and streets ready for the extra traffic.
“We just repaved Burton (Lane) to the south, because it is going to stay open through roughly September, now,” Oakes said. “You will be able to cross the highway there.”
Connection to Reuben Drive west of the highway will also be accessible through most of the year.
The Grand Valley Overpass, which connects South Street to Grand Valley Boulevard, has been open since this past summer.
There will also be connection between Ohio Street and Mahalasville Road, as well as Hospital Drive and Ind. 242 during the Ind. 37 closure.
Oakes also noted that portions of Morgan and Main streets in downtown Martinsville saw the first work for the city’s water project so that crews could get out of the way for traffic, and to allow the water lines to handle the traffic on the streets above.
“We were fearful of old lines there, old water lines there, taking the heavy loads of traffic that were going to come,” Oakes said.
Rubin noted that when the state decided on closing Ind. 37, it began working with former Martinsville Mayor Shannon Kohl and her administration to see what the city needed to handle the closure.
“You see the improvements on State Road 39 through Martinsville, since obviously that will be part of the detour route,” Rubin said.
INDOT added travel lanes to Ind. 39 from the Ind. 37 interchange to the railroad tracks near Mitchell Avenue.
There are expectations that some county roads, like Blue Bluff and Maple Turn roads, may see a drastic increase in traffic during the closure.
Morgan County Administrator Josh Messmer said that the county is limited in what it can do to keep traffic, especially heavy vehicles, off the roadways.
“In order to minimize the amount of traffic the roadways could see from non-residents, we will post signs at the north end of Blue Bluff Road and the east end of Maple Turn Road indicating they are non-detour roads,” Messmer wrote in an email. “This will be done in conjunction with Martinsville placing a sign at the south end of Blue Bluff Road.”
Along the official detour’s course, INDOT has added an intersection warning system at the Ind. 144 and Pennington/Nietzel roads intersection, as well as traffic signals at Ind. 144 and Mann Road and Ind. 144 and Old Ind. 144.
Ind. 37 will be open to traffic between Morgan Street and Ind. 144 in Johnson County, but the highway will be reduced to one lane in each direction throughout most of 2021.
The state has added a temporary traffic signal at Ind. 37 and Henderson Ford Road as well as Banta Road and Ind. 37 to help deal with the traffic.
Motorists will also be able to access Banta, Ennis and Henderson Ford roads and Morgan Street from Ind. 37.
Emergency services impact
With the highway’s closure, there will likely be an impact to how emergency personnel — like fire, medics and police — are able to respond in an emergency.
Rubin noted that responders would be able to activate recently installed preemption equipment on traffic signals from their vehicles, when needed.
That equipment helps let motorists know when an emergency vehicle is about to enter an intersection.
“Additionally, each of our construction contracts is required to have incident management meetings,” Rubin added.
Those meetings allow agencies to know about any potential pattern changes so that they can easily respond to a situation.
Greene added that he, and other emergency responders and agencies, meet with INDOT on a regular basis to discuss the project.
Earlier this year, preemption equipment was added to traffic signals in Martinsville that allows emergency personnel to activate lights that warn motorists to oncoming emergency vehicles.
The Washington Township Fire Department plans to set up a second, temporary station on Jordan Road south of Martinsville.
On Tuesday night, the Madison Township Board approved an agreement between the township and Morgan County to provide EMS service to Harrison Township.
Harrison Township is currently serviced by Morgan County EMS, but the highway closure will make it difficult to respond to an emergency situation from Martinsville.
Greene said that Martinsville Fire Department has reached out to other departments, like Washington Township and Gregg Township fire departments, to prepare for a potential increase in calls.
“We have discussed the fact that we are going to have a lot more traffic running through Martinsville — whether it be the (Ind. 39) bypass on up to 67, down Morgan Street or Blue Bluff Road,” Greene said. “We are just trying to put together our plan on how we are going to assist each other.”
Greene went on to say that Martinsville Fire Department is looking at helping Washington Township respond to incidents on Blue Bluff Road.
“When we may have a hard time getting on the east side of 37, the township may try to help us over there as well,” Greene said.
Business impact
The highway’s closure is expected to have an impact on businesses not only near the Ind. 37 corridor, but also in downtown Martinsville.
Back in 2019, both the Greater Martinsville Chamber of Commerce and Visit Morgan County teamed up to help local businesses start planning for the closure.
On Tuesday, Chamber President and CEO Jamie Taylor said she is optimistic that people who have not been exposed to downtown Martinsville will be seeing it for the first time.
“We are working with (the businesses) to make sure that they know how to stay up-to-date on changes so that they can keep their social media and their Google and those kinds of accounts up-to-date so that their customers know how to find them,” Taylor said.
Taylor also noted that businesses along Ind. 37 need to stay updated on the work so that they can let customers know how to get to them.
It is anticipated that the five-mile stretch of Ind. 37 through Martinsville will be closed for most of 2021.
Updates on the closure can regularly be found online at i69finishline.com/closure, or on the project’s social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @I69FinishLine.
The overall I-69 Finish Line project, the last leg of a decades-long process, is expected to be complete by the end of 2024.