INDOT to add lanes on I-69 in Hamilton County

The Indiana Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to add a travel lane in each direction along I-69 from Fishers to Madison County in 2016.

INDOT preliminary selected Milestone Contractors in October to build the $85 million project. The state held two public hearings this month, including one Thursday in Noblesville. Construction will start in the spring and take two years.

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INDOT plans to widen the interstate by one lane in each direction along about 15 miles from Ind. 37 and 116th Street — Exit 205, in Fishers — to Ind. 38 — Exit 219, which leads to Lapel and Fortville. A southbound lane also would be added from 116th Street to the future 106th Street interchange in Fishers. The Campus Parkway-Southeastern Parkway Exit 210 interchange, along the Fishers-Noblesville border, also will be reconfigured into a diverging diamond that can handle more traffic.

The state opened a similar interchange on I-69 in Fort Wayne and plans to open one along I-65 in Greenwood this year. The configuration allows traffic to enter the highway without turning in front of oncoming traffic.

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The roadwork was announced in 2014 as part of Major Moves 2020, which proposed to invest $400 million into heavily traveled interstates.

The $34 million project to convert the 106th Street underpass — which is a separate project — into an interchange will begin this spring and take about a year.

Hearing Thursday on new I-69 Fishers interchange

Call Star reporter Chris Sikich at (317) 444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich and at Facebook/chris.sikich.