Roundabout interchanges for SR 37 in Fishers/Noblesville (Indianapolis, Carmel: sale, 2013)

[ischyros]

I have to say that I have dreamed of this happening ever since Carmel did the same with Keystone Parkway. I live right off the west side of SR37 in Fishers and while I don't know that driving north or south on 37 is a pain as I rarely have to do it, I know crossing 37 is bad. Most of the lights stay green for about 7 cars to get through, if that. There are a lot of people that continue after the light turns red because they don't want to sit through it a 3rd or 4th time. My problems with this are 1) if it does happen, it won't be finished until 2027. That is way too long. 2) The businesses along the road, especially in Noblesville where there are large retail centers on both sides of the highway. 3) The traffic that will be added to Cumberland Rd and Allisonvile Rd during the apparently 9 years of construction, though I assume they wouldn't do side-by-side intersections at the same time to allow for shorter detours.

https://www.indystar.com/article/201...ould-pay-price

[domergurl]

Sad no mass transit option ... won't a lot of businesses currently on 37 have to relocate or be shut down?

Allisonville Road traffic will increase, as will Olio Road ...

Have fun with that Fishers!

[Coogles]

348 Million Dollars? What brilliant engineering firm came up with this bright idea? Is it any wonder our country is broke? Hoooooly crap what a waste of money.

Right, lets spend a third of a billion dollars to shave a few minutes off the commuting times for people who chose on their own accord to live 20 miles away from where they work. Brilliant. And what kind of returns are we getting for such an expenditure? Nothing. The developments are already there. There's no additional revenue, just more future liabilities from having to maintain complex bridges, retaining walls, and ramps.

Just think of all you could do with $348 million. How many homes could be rehabbed? How many streetscapes could be completed? How many teachers could be hired? How many parks could be built? Instead we want to waste 348 million taxpayer dollars to get absolutely nothing in return aside from a bit less stress for our precious commuters.

[wh15395]

This is stupid. I get upgrading 31 because it is actually used by people traveling long distances, but 37 is basically just a commuter road at this point. I agree that if people choose to live 20 miles from where they work, they deserve to suffer. If they're sick of traffic, they can pay for it themselves. You know, kind of like that little plan called Indy Connect....

[corydon]

9 round abouts... that wil do the trick, everybody packs up and leave...
Here is how a roundabout works, traffic on the circle has the right away, so.... if a constant stream of cars goes on and of the circle, than other traffic can't go on it...
How about like in al TX cities, elevated roads with paralel roads on street level, traffic runs pretty smooth.

The price tag is a bit freaking steep.....

[ischyros]

Originally Posted by wh15395

This is stupid. I get upgrading 31 because it is actually used by people traveling long distances, but 37 is basically just a commuter road at this point. I agree that if people choose to live 20 miles from where they work, they deserve to suffer. If they're sick of traffic, they can pay for it themselves. You know, kind of like that little plan called Indy Connect....

I live in Fishers. Work in Hamilton County, barely ever even make it down to Marion County. So why should I have to pay for all the road work you guys have going on?

But this project on 37 will make my life easier because I often have to use 37 to drive to Noblesville for shopping. It's much closer to me than Castleton. I suppose, though, it's my fault for buying a house on the west side of 37 knowing the grocery store, drugstores, and restaurants are mostly on the east side so I just have to suffer with sitting through a light 3 times to cross 37 because it barely stays green long enough to let 5 cars through. This benefits a lot more than just traffic on SR 37. Cross traffic really backs up on just about every street through this stretch of the highway.

Originally Posted by corydon

9 round abouts... that wil do the trick, everybody packs up and leave...
Here is how a roundabout works, traffic on the circle has the right away, so.... if a constant stream of cars goes on and of the circle, than other traffic can't go on it...
How about like in al TX cities, elevated roads with paralel roads on street level, traffic runs pretty smooth.

The price tag is a bit freaking steep.....

You realize the roundabouts won't actually be on SR 37, right? SR 37 will be almost interstate like with entrance and exit ramps until you get north of Noblesville. The cross streets will bridge over the highway and those will have the roundabouts.
Have you ever driven Keystone Ave through Carmel? It's a breeze and it's the same thing this proposal will do to SR 37. I do agree the price tag seems high. It seems Carmel did Keystone Ave for a fraction of the cost without having to tear anything down but they have half the roundabouts and most of it goes through residential area.

[corydon]

Sorry, looked at the article at a glance.
Drive a semi myself and rather drive an extra 30 miles, just to stay of 37. I don't get out there a lot, but know it is just plain busy.

[ischyros]

Originally Posted by corydon

Sorry, looked at the article at a glance.
Drive a semi myself and rather drive an extra 30 miles, just to stay of 37. I don't get out there a lot, but know it is just plain busy.

I agree if the roundabouts would actually be on SR 37, it would be a very stupid plan.

[Coogles]

Originally Posted by ischyros

I live in Fishers. Work in Hamilton County, barely ever even make it down to Marion County. So why should I have to pay for all the road work you guys have going on?

You largely don't. I have no idea how much money the city of Indianapolis gets from the federal governement, but the bulk of the infrastructure improvements you're seeing in Marion county these days is from Rebuild Indy, the funds for which were sourced from the sale of the water and utility companies, which netted the city $425ish million dollars.

That figure sort of puts into perspective how crazy expensive this 37 project is, doesn't it? Indianapolis is repaving miles upon miles of surface streets, replacing/adding sidewalks and curbs, adding trails, improving stormwater management, and introducing bike lanes for about 20% more than Fishers/Noblesville will spend on this one project. Oh yeah, we're even building a park for "international sports", including a completely unnecessary cricket stadium. Awesome!!!

But this project on 37 will make my life easier because I often have to use 37 to drive to Noblesville for shopping. It's much closer to me than Castleton. I suppose, though, it's my fault for buying a house on the west side of 37 knowing the grocery store, drugstores, and restaurants are mostly on the east side so I just have to suffer with sitting through a light 3 times to cross 37 because it barely stays green long enough to let 5 cars through. This benefits a lot more than just traffic on SR 37. Cross traffic really backs up on just about every street through this stretch of the highway.

How is $348 million worth not having to sit through a few lights? It's easy to say "great, love the idea!" when someone else is picking up the tab (thanks federal govt.), but if local residents and businesses were told they would have to cover the costs of the project in a way that could be amortized over the reasonable lifespan of the roads (say, 30 years tops?) they'd never go for it.

[ischyros]

Originally Posted by Coogles

You largely don't. I have no idea how much money the city of Indianapolis gets from the federal governement, but the bulk of the infrastructure improvements you're seeing in Marion county these days is from Rebuild Indy, the funds for which were sourced from the sale of the water and utility companies, which netted the city $425ish million dollars.

I think I kind of am then because I had Indianapolis Water until it was sold to Citizens, though water was the only utility I had. Otherwise we have Duke and Hamilton Southeastern Utilities (the latter of which has yet to get in the 20th century, let alone 21st century).

Originally Posted by Coogles

That figure sort of puts into perspective how crazy expensive this 37 project is, doesn't it? Indianapolis is repaving miles upon miles of surface streets, replacing/adding sidewalks and curbs, adding trails, improving stormwater management, and introducing bike lanes for about 20% more than Fishers/Noblesville will spend on this one project. Oh yeah, we're even building a park for "international sports", including a completely unnecessary cricket stadium. Awesome!!!



How is $348 million worth not having to sit through a few lights? It's easy to say "great, love the idea!" when someone else is picking up the tab (thanks federal govt.), but if local residents and businesses were told they would have to cover the costs of the project in a way that could be amortized over the reasonable lifespan of the roads (say, 30 years tops?) they'd never go for it.

If local residents and businesses had to cover the costs of almost any infrastructure project, I don't think anything would ever get approved. I do completely agree, as I said before, that the cost seems bizarrely high, but when has INDOT ever done anything for cheap?