Hoosier Minuteman/Volume 3/Number 4/Main lines of interstate system to be completed

by Anonymous

Main lines of interstate system to be completed

This aerial shot of I-70 shows the Holt Road interchange. [photo by Indiana State Highway Commission]

This aerial shot of I-70 shows the Holt Road interchange. [photo by Indiana State Highway Commission]

By the end of 1976, even though much of the country's interstates will be under construction, the main lines of Indiana's system will be completed. Barring extremely bad weather or a critical shortage materials or funs, these main lines, as well as I-265 in southern Indiana, will be complete and open to traffic by the end of this Bicentennial year.

All that will remain to be finished then will be the non-mainline routes of I-275 and I-164. The portion of I-275 from the US 50 intersection to the Ohio state line in southeastern Indiana is anticipated to be open by the fall of 1976 with the remainder opening by latter 1977. I-64, a planned connector route to I-64 near Evansville, is still in the early planning stages with construction not projected to begin for at least four years.

The reason for the early and prompt completion of interstates here in Indiana lies in the far-sighted and innovative Accelerated Construction of Interstates Program initiated by Governor Bowen and by the Highway Commissioner's Chairman, Richard A. Boehning, with financial help and approval from the 1974 Indiana Legislature.

In 1956 when Congress established the Interstate Highway System, the target date for its completion nationwide was 1972. When 1972 arrived, the interstate system in Indiana, and nationwide, was still far from being finished.

When Governor Bowen took office in January of 1973, he was frequently asked why the interstate program was being delayed and when the citizens of Indiana could expect it to be complete. Checking with Chairman Boehning, the Governor discovered that best estimates put completion dates at 10 to 12 years hence—depending on the flow of Federal funds to the state.

Not liking this time frame, Governor Bowen charged the Commission with finding a way to speed up the Interstate Program. The result of that charge is the Accelerated Construction of Interstate Program (ACI), a program in which Indiana will go ahead and pay the full cost of the construction of its interstates and then will be reimbursed by the Federal governments funds as those funds become available.

In drawing up the ACI program, Commission engineers predicted that if the state could provide $50 million in state funds prior to mid-December of 1973, then the interstate system could be done by 1977. The 1974 Indiana General Assembly enthusiastically supported this Commission proposal for a way to enable the state to come up with the necessary $50 million for the construction program to begin. Thus, Indiana became to begin. Thus, Indiana became no longer dependent on Federal funds, which often came slowly, to get the interstate done.

Hoosiers wanted their interstate system completed and so they took the solution into their own hands. They decided to pay for it now and be reimbursed by Federal funds later, giving this state a system that will be completed far in advance of the now-projected nationwide completion estimates of 1985 or possibly even 1990.

Every opened mile of interstate saves lives. This earlier completion also will save money, since costs for materials and labor promise to continue to soar in the next decade, a savings that could be significant since better than $1,220,000,000 has already been spend on Indiana's interstates.

Those initiating the ACI program have had to maintain a very tight working schedule, but so far the demands have been met. A shortage of critical materials or a spell of bad weather could delay schedules, but, by June of 1974, all of Indiana's original interstate mileage had reached at least the grading stages. In January of 1976, the final two paving contracts for the Indianapolis innerbelt, as well as the last one for I-64, were let.

One paving contract for I-275 will be let in mid-1976 and that will complete the contracts on the original interstate mileage allocated to the Indiana interstate system.