In 2021, a full road closure of Indiana State Road 37 in Martinsville will convert the road into Interstate 69, which will likely result in extended travel time to Bloomington for IU students, parents and Bloomington locals due to the construction.
“When that full closure happens, people will want to plan ahead and allow some extra time for the detour routes and the extra traffic on those detour routes,” said Natalie Garrett, an Indiana Department of Transportation spokesperson. INDOT is overseeing the construction project.
The official INDOT detour will be State Road 39 to State Road 67 to State Road 144 heading northbound from Bloomington and will be the opposite heading southbound.
The expansion is part of the I-69 Finish Line Project, which is expected to be completed in 2024. When it’s complete, I-69 will run from Michigan to Evansville, Indiana.
Although there is no definitive start date for the closure of SR 37 other than 2021, the road is expected to be open to traffic through Martinsville by the end of 2021 or early 2022.
Garrett said the project will affect people who typically use SR 37 trying to get to and from the north of Bloomington.
Meghan Armendariz, a sophomore who lives on the west side of Indianapolis, said she is concerned about the additional travel time that will be added to her commute.
“I’m concerned about traffic because travel time is pretty short now,” Armendariz said. “I have my way that I know to drive home, which is the only way that I ever go. Now I will have to drive around and find a new route, which is inconvenient.”
INDOT will continue to coordinate with IU for sporting events, move-in and move-out dates, commencements and other days that bring in extra traffic, Garrett said.
Initial road construction began in Martinsville in 2019. This caused Heather Van Cleave and her husband to move closer to Martinsville, where her husband works.
Van Cleave said they lived in Greenwood, Indiana, but her husband’s commute time was increasing due to road construction already being done in the Martinsville area.
Van Cleave also said her father-in-law had recently retired from INDOT, so they knew the full road closure of SR 37 was going to be happening.
“We were dreading what was going to happen, and the commute kept getting longer,” Van Cleave said.
