Starting the first day back from spring break, access to the partial interchange at North Walnut Street and State Road 37 will be temporarily closed.
This shutdown comes as part of the Indiana Department of Transportation’s I-69 Section Five project, in which SR 37 is being upgraded to limited-access interstate standards to later be designated as Interstate 69. The only access to the interstate is planned to come in the form of interchanges.
Section Five of the project runs from just south of Bloomington to just south of Martinsville, Indiana, covering about 21 miles.
Andy Dietrick, a spokesperson for the I-69 Section Five project, said the partial interchange will be shut down in order to completely reconstruct the on and off ramp lanes, repave the area and work on the slopes and drainage. He said changing the sloping of the interstate helps with the drainage of the roadway.
The construction at the North Walnut Street interchange was originally supposed to begin March 1 and would have affected some students leaving for and returning from spring break. However, a change in start date came in recent weeks, Dietrick said.
As far as he is aware, Dietrick said, the start date was moved due to flexible and shifting scheduling. He said it fit better with other things going on in the area, but that he did not believe IU’s spring break affected the date change.
“I think that would be a happy coincidence,” he said. “I’m not sure that came in the planning process, but if that works out better for the students getting out of town, that’s great.”
He did say people working on the project have been in contact with the University in the past to help accommodate students and schedules, but he said the North Walnut Street and SR 37 construction delay did not seem to be one of those cases, based on meetings he attended.
Dietrick said other exits out of town will still be open for usage, though there is I-69 Section Five construction taking place at other exits.
According to a press release, the official detour for the North Walnut Street interchange closure is the State Road 46 interchange. There will be signs in place for the detour, and motorists are encouraged to use that route instead of other local and country roads.
The North Walnut Street and SR 37 partial interchange construction is anticipated to be completed at the end of April.
Hannah Boufford
This article has been updated.
