Tag: I-465

West Marion County and I-465

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The first part of the new beltway (almost) around Indianapolis started on the westside of Marion County. As mentioned in other articles, the original plan was to start Interstate 465 at Interstate 65 on the northwest side, with the replacement for State Road 100 (which I-465 officially was) heading south from there to circle around the county from there. Interchanges were planned at I-65, I-74/US 136, 10th Street, US 36 (Rockville Road), US 40 (Washington Street), Weir Cook Municipal Airport (Airport Expressway), Interstate 70, and SR 67 (Kentucky Avenue). According to USGS topo maps, like that included below, show that there was a stub ramp connecting I-465 to 62nd Street, although the ramp connecting to 62nd Street was listed as still proposed six years later.

1962 USGS topographic map showing the original interchange connection Interstate 65 and Interstate 465.

Construction started along the corridor in 1959. The Indianapolis News ran a series of pictures showing the plans set out by the State Highway Department. If you noticed the list of interchanges above, there were no plans for 56th Street or 38th Street to have ways to access 465. Bridges were to be built over 465 at 56th, 46th, 38th, 34th, and 21st Streets. (21st Street was a very special, and contentious, situation. I covered it in the article: “Building I-465 at West 21st Street. [8 May 2020]”)

Indianapolis News, 14 December 1959, showing the Indiana State Highway Department’s plans for the new Interstate 465 (also still called State Road 100 at the time) at the northern terminus of the highway.

The plans for Interstate 65 at that point were to continue to have it replace US 52 (Lafayette Road). The US 52 bypass at Lebanon was made part of the new I-65. The temporary plan was to connect I-65 just southeast of I-465 directly to US 52 until construction could continue. Then I-65 would also be US 52 from that point to northwest of Lebanon. I mention this only because the loop around Indianapolis was, apparently, easier to get approved than trying to run I-65 through town. (And since it would take another 16 years to complete, even to the point that an addition was planned to I-465 and completed before I-65 through Marion County says it all.)

It wouldn’t take long after the original plans for the interstate were laid down that changes were made. The non-planned 38th Street interchange was added to the deal. It was to be a partial cloverleaf interchange connecting to 38th Street at that point. Marion County had decided to build 38th Street from Lafayette Road east to the new White River bridge to be built by the city. At that point in history, 38th Street was a county road with nothing resembling the connections it has today as a major west side thoroughfare.

Indianapolis News, 11 December 1959, showing the future connection to 38th Street from I-465. This ramp would be built much later, when 38th Street was finally connected as a thoroughfare across Marion County.

The next interchange south of the “gonna be built someday” 38th Street was the connection to another interstate highway, Interstate 74. The plans shown in the Indianapolis News differ slightly from what was actually built. US 136 (Crawfordsville Road) is directly connected to the east end of the proposed interstate connection. This would change. It looks like the proposed interchange was moved slightly north, and Crawfordsville Road west of High School Road was turned north to connect to High School Road. This would be where US 136 would ultimately officially end.

Indianapolis News, 10 December 1959, showing the proposed connection between interstates 74 and 465. The original plan, and this was carried out, is that Interstate 74 would “travel over,” ISHD/INDOT term for multiplex, with I-465 from northwest to southeast Marion County.
1953 Topo map showing the intersection of West 10th Street and High School Road.

The next section did change, at least at one interchange, quite a bit. But before I describe that, let’s talk about the placement of I-465 from Vermont Street north to about where 16th Street would be, if it continued to High School/Girls School Road. The new interstate was planned, in that section, to be built directly over High School Road. This is not really a stretch, since High School Road, from Washington Street south to the Airport, was the original State Road 100. And I-465 was, for all intents and purposes, State Road 100 according to ISHD.

I have written a detailed history of SR 100 (SR 100: How did it come to be? [9 March 2019]) and an article about how, at one point, the connection between SR 100 on BOTH sides of Marion County were to have cloverleaf interchanges (“The Cloverleaf Interchanges at US 40 and SR 100” [20 November 2019]). If SR 100 had been completed on the west side, like it was on the north and east sides, I have no doubt that it would have followed High School Road north, probably, ultimately, to 86th Street, which was SR 100 along the northwest side.

The change in interchanges happened at 10th Street. The original plan was for a full cloverleaf interchange at that intersection. This would have pushed the eastbound 10th Street to southbound 465 ramp back closer to Glen Arm Road, where High School Road was rerouted to miss the interchange. What was ultimately built was a jumbled three-quarter cloverleaf with a flyover from westbound 10th to southbound 465.

In the end, High School Road was basically built over by 465 from Vermont to 10th Streets. 10th Street is a survey correction line, so High School actually moves slightly to the east at that point, as shown in the topo map to the left. For more information about survey lines, check out “Survey Lines and County Roads. (29 March 2019)”

Indianapolis News, 9 December 1959, showing the Indiana State Highway Department plans for I-465 from just south of the New York Central railroad tracks to just north of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tracks, including what was to originally be full cloverleaf interchanges at 10th Street and Rockville Road.
1953 USGS topo map of the area of Washington Street and High School Road. The area marked “Ben Davis” would be the location of the new cloverleaf interchange between US 40 and I-465.

From the looks of aerial photos in 1959 as shown in the Indianapolis News, the interchange at Washington Street was going to be very destructive. (Keep in mind that as of the writing of this article, MapIndy, my go to source for historic aerial photos of Marion County no longer offers that service. Maps are available, but the aerial photos are gone.) In addition to the shunting of Morris Street (a survey line and historic route of its own accord), most of where the interchange between US 40 and I-465 was basically what had been the town of Ben Davis.

Another thing would have to happen before this interchange would be built. It was determined, and reported, in July 1959 that an improvement of West Washington Street would have to occur before the interstate reached that point. US 40 was to be widened in the area. The work on Washington Street, however, would have to wait until sewer work in the area was completed…probably in 1961. Plans to widen Washington Street from 40 feet to 68 feet wide, with a four foot median and an eight parking lane on each side, were decided upon. Very little of that plan exists today…and if it does, it’s hard to find.

Indianapolis News, 8 December 1959, showing the proposed area of US 40 and Interstate 465.

The last area covered by the Indianapolis News in the series of articles (actually, it was the first since the editor staff decided to post them south to north, even though the interstate was built north to south!) shows the area of I-465 near Weir Cook Municipal Airport. The one change that I can see is what would become Airport Expressway (check out “Indianapolis’ Raymond Street Expressway” [4 February 2020] for the history of what started out as the Bradbury Expressway) was proposed to connect to the airport heading slightly north of due west, just above Southern Avenue. This section of the (now) Sam Jones Expressway is due east-west at the point it connects to Interstate 465. For a history of what is now Indianapolis International Airport, check out “Indianapolis Municipal Airport.” (20 August 2019)

Indianapolis News, 7 December 1959. This newspaper snippet shows the area of proposed I-465 near the (then) Weir Cook Municipal Airport (now Indianapolis International).

That covers the first of the construction of the State Road 100 replacement. I want to share this one last snippet from the Indianapolis News of 19 October 1960. It shows the construction of I-465/I-65/US 52 at 62nd Street…or the original northern end of Interstate 465.

Indianapolis News, 19 October 1960, showing the original northern end of Interstate 465.

INDOT’s Reference Post System

In 1999, the Indiana Department of Transportation decided that it was time to come up with a system that would help better keep track of features along the roads that for which it was responsible. While is would be based, according to INDOT, on the mileage of the road, it was not a milepost system. It was a locator for maintenance items, other than signs, on the state highway system.

RPS 86 on US 40, Marion County, Indiana (Washington Park Cemetery). From Google Maps, snipped 23 December 2020.

There are many parts to the system. The one that most people would have seen, but not really noticed, were the signs that were put up for use with the system. These consisted of small blue signs with a mile number on it, with a smaller sign, if needed, below it with an offset to that mile on it. The signs themselves were barely wider than the post they were on. Very small in relation to most highway signs. Since they are technically only for INDOT use, their size wasn’t a concern. The public wouldn’t notice them, lessening the sign pollution that departments of transportation have been trying to keep under control forever.

RP 88, Offset .88, US 40 bridge of Buck Creek, Cumberland

I really wish I could have had a better snippet for the offset post, but then, the idea was to give the reader the image of what they roughly look like, so the reader would know what to look for.

The RPS manual is very detailed in its information. For instance, the picture to the left is listed as “RP_U_40_Post_86,” meaning “Reference Post, US 40, Post 86.” The one on the right is listed as “CUMBERLAND CORP. LINE BR 4588 O BUCK CREEK,” at least in the 2004 manual.

US 40 is a very prime example of why this system isn’t to be used as a mileage post system. The system was setup prior to the 1 July 1999 decommissioning of US 31, SR 37 and US 40 inside the Interstate 465 loop. What was, in 1999, marked as mile 86 on US 40 is, in 2020, at mile 92.37 on that very same road in 2004. In 2016, the last update from INDOT, it was listed as US 40 mile 65.179. The legal definition of US 40 was lengthened when it was rerouted along the southside of Indianapolis on I-465 in 2004. By a little over six miles. By 2016, the extra mileage along I-465 was removed to show a more accurate road mileage count towards INDOT’s limit of 12,000 miles.

But there is a bit more to the reference post system that comes into play. Each highway listed in the RPS not only includes the complete mileage for the road in Indiana, but they are also listed by the mileage per county, as well. For instance, reference post 86 above is listed as Marion County mile 24.06 in 2004. In the 2016 manual, that mileage is 5.027.

Then, the reference post system records almost everything along the road. This includes EVERY village/town/city street that intersects with the posted road. For instance, near reference post 86 is, in the 2004 manual, “86 + 0.21 24.52 IR 4193 LT (DELBRICK LN).” At reference post location 86.21, 24.52 route miles into Marion County, Delbrick Lane connects to Washington Street (US 40) on the left (north) side of the road. Directions are listed from the increasing number of the reference post. Every street is listed, although almost none of them have a reference post sign.

Also, the corporation limits of towns and cities are listed by the reference post location, although there is no reference post installed most of the time. This even includes old corporation limits. For instance, in the 2016 manual, reference post 85+0.686 is listed as “City or Town Limit – Indianapolis.” Post Road is reference post 86+0.668. Legally, Indianapolis continues for another at least two miles (the sign welcoming one to Indianapolis is west of German Church Road, the county line is another mile east of that, but that is in the town of Cumberland. And even legally, Cumberland is part of Indianapolis. It is as confusing as all get out, but suffice it to say, for the past 50 years, the city limits of Indianapolis have been the county limits of Marion County, with some exceptions. Certainly not Post Road.

But the idea of the legal multiplex of I-465 with almost every INDOT road in Marion County (there are two that don’t mix with I-465: US 136 and SR 135) that brings up another question. What about multiplexes of state roads?

When the system was created in 1999, it was designed with a hierarchy of roads. That hierarchy was interstate, US highway, then state road, in that order. INDOT does not use the term “multiplex” officially. It is called “travel over” in Indiana. The following picture comes from the INDOT RPS guide of 1999 showing how “travel overs” are handled when it comes to marking the mileage of the road.

Indiana Department of Transportation Reference Post System Users Guide, May 1999.

As you can see, near Frankfort, US 421 takes precedence with the little blue signs. SR 39 is junior to SR 38 when it comes to the signs, only due to the fact that 38 is before 39 numerically.

The system underwent some changes between 2004 and 2015. In 2015, it was made perfectly clear that the manual may contain some mistakes, but that every effort was taken to avoid them.

There was also a special note involving US 40 in Vigo County. When US 40 was removed from most of Vigo County, and rerouted along I-70 and SR 46, the RPS system was not changed to reflect that. The section of US 40 that “travels over” SR 46 is still labelled as SR 46. Here is INDOT’s explanation: “US 40 in Vigo County has a special issue that needs to be addressed. Due to relinquishments and creating a travel over for US 40, the alignment does not follow the historic path. US 40 now traverses where SR 46 has traditionally been and SR 46 is considered the Travel Over on US 40. However, the existing reference posts are still for the SR 46 route and are running in a contrary direction to the increasing direction of US 40. Therefore, for the purposes of this book, RP and Offset for the first 3 miles of US are based on the State Log Measure until it reaches the traditional location for US 40 and then jumps to RP 11 + 00 at the intersection of SR 46 and US 40.”

I mentioned above about the original system being put in place prior to the decommissioning of routes in Marion County. It is important to note that there were more routes affected than just those that were moved to I-465. Those routes were US 31, SR 37 and US 40. The mileage on those roads got weird, yes. But there were two others that were affected by the change…and one most people didn’t even realize.

SR 135 was rerouted from Troy Avenue to Thompson Road, cutting two miles out of the official route. This just required moving the little blue signs from north of Thompson Road, and surveying what else would need signs. And what wouldn’t.

The other route affect wasn’t even marked when it was decommissioned. Shadeland Avenue on the east side of Marion County was still legally SR 100 from I-465 to US 40 (Washington Street) until 1 July 1999. For the longest time, the only marker on SR 100 was a smaller blue sign below the reference post signs that read “100.”

INDOT has available on their website the RPS manuals for 2004, 2015 and 2016. Also available is the users guide from 1999. Here are the links for each: Users Guide – 2004 – 2015 – 2016

I-65 and I-465 On The Northwest Side – A Pictorial History

Today, I want to use MapIndy and USGS Topographic maps to show the progression of the interchange between I-65 and I-465 on the northwest side of Marion, just east of Eagle Creek Park. I am going to have four aerial photos in this entry: 1941, 1956, 1962 and 1972. Also, small snippets of several topo maps are used. Strangely, the 1941 and 1956 are almost identical.

1941 MapIndy aerial photo of the area around the I-65/I-465 interchange on the northwest side of Marion County.
1956 MapIndy aerial photo of the area around the I-65/I-465 interchange on the northwest side of Marion County.
1961 USGS Topographic Map of the interchange between I-65, I-465, and future SR 100, now known as I-465.

The 1961 USGS Topo map shows the pending SR 100 connection. Bridges appear in the 1962 aerial, especially Lafayette Road over I-465. It should also be noted that on the USGS maps, the pending I-465 was also marked SR 100. Also, what is now I-65 fed directly into Lafayette Road at this point. This made sense, since I-65 was the replacement, between Indianapolis and Labanon, of US 52…which followed Lafayette Road in this area.

The next photo is from 1962. The missing section in the picture had not changed much, if at all, from the 1956. The Dandy Trail did not cross Eagle Creek at a right angle to the creek. It had been replaced by a bridge on 56th Street. And the reservoir still hasn’t been built. Both interstates, I-65 going straight through the area, and I-465 veering off to the south, catch the eastern edge of the park like area west of Lafayette Road north of 62nd Street. That park like area is listed on the 1953 USGS topographic map as “Eagle Creek Forest.”

1953 USGS Topographic Map of Eagle Creek Forest.

It should be noted that 62nd Street was completely orphaned west of the interstate when it was built. Reed Road, which at the time before the building of the reservoir and the park ended at 62nd Street, was the access to the orphaned section west of the interstate.

The state had already made plans to make the complete I-465 loop, including between 56th Street north to the north leg. However, it never did get federal approval. If it was going to be built, the state would have to build it not as the interstate, but as a state road. Hence it was decided that the road that I-465 was replacing, SR 100, would be the designation for that section.

1962 MapIndy aerial photo of the area around the I-65/I-465 interchange on the northwest side of Marion County.

The topo map of 1967 (1969 edition) shows the completion of Eagle Creek Reservoir and Park. It shows the area that had been the Dandy Trail Bridge over Eagle Creek. I have included two snippets of that map. The first is the I-465/I-65 interchange, with the proposed SR 100 connection. The Second shows the 56th Street causeway over the reservoir.

1969 USGS Topographic Map of the I-65/I-465/Proposed SR 100 interchange.
1969 USGS Topographic Map of the 56th Street Causeway over Eagle Creek Reservoir.

By the time that the 1972 photo was taken, the Eagle Creek Reservoir and Park was in place. Reed Road, which allowed access to the park area with the circular road, was still in place, but as I recall it had been closed to traffic on the 56th Street end. The Dandy Trail bridge had been replaced with the 56th Street Causeway, mainly because the old road was under water at that point.

The major change, relating to the subject at hand, was the completion and connection of the section of I-465 north of I-65 heading off towards the north leg of the bypass route. That section was built not as part of I-465, but as SR 100. It wouldn’t stay SR 100 long, as the Feds allowed it to become I-465…as long as the state continued to pay 50% of the building cost as opposed to the normal 10%. So, yes, that section of I-465 was a state choice…the Feds approved it after construction was started. This would cut even more of 62nd Street, and High School Road, out of the city landscape. The curve, connecting Lafayette Road to 62nd Street heading east, had already cut the corner of 62nd Street and High School Road off from connecting with anything other than Lafayette Road to the west.

1972 MapIndy aerial photo of the area around the I-65/I-465 interchange on the northwest side of Marion County.

It hasn’t change much in that area since 1972. There are some rumblings of changing the interchange to make it more friendly to interstate-to-interstate transfer. But nothing has come of it.

I-465 and I-70, Marion County East Side, A Pictorial History

Today, I want to take a look at the interchange between Interstates 70 and 465 on the east side of Marion County…in pictorial form. This history will cover from 1962 to 1993, with what aerial photographs are available from MapIndy, the official mapping application of Indianapolis/Marion County. It will also cover the interchange between Interstate 70 and Shadeland Avenue, which was SR 100 before, and for some time after, the building of its replacement, I-465.

1962
1972
1978
1979
1986
1993

Two of the constrictions at the location of this interchange were both 21st Street and Franklin Road. Franklin Road had been in place since it was created as the Noblesville-Franklin State Road early in the state’s history. As you can tell from the photos, the routing of Franklin Road was changed between 21st Street and around 25th Street. The original routing of the road is still in place, but contains two dead end sections at the interstate.

21st Street has been around for a whole lot of years, as well. Maps show that it was added to the county sometime between 1870 and 1889. In 1889, there was a toll house for the Pleasant Run Pike on the northwest corner of 21st Street and Shadeland Avenue. From what I can tell, the only part of the road that was a toll road was from Arlington Avenue to Mitthoeffer Road. Today, 21st Street can be followed from Massachusetts Avenue at the Bee Line (Big Four – Conrail – CSX) Railroad to a point just northwest of Charlottesville.

The ramp from I-70 West to I-465 South was under construction in 1978, and would be completed in 1979. Prior to this, that traffic movement was handled by a loop ramp, as the interchange was originally built as a 3/4 cloverleaf. By 1993, the current collector/distributor system connecting Shadeland Avenue to both I-70 and I-465 was completed.

The ramps to Shadeland Avenue have always been a very tight fit into the area allowed.

1959 – Interstate Contract Bids

When the interstate system started being built in Indiana in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, contracts for building those roads started flying fast and furious. The interstate system came into being in 1956…and the first contracts were finally let in 1959. The Indianapolis News of 29 May 1959 reported all of the contracts that were let to that point.

First four miles of Interstate 465: “Low bid for construction of the first 4 miles of Interstate 465, the new belt highway to encircle Indianapolis, has been submitted by an Evanston (Ill.) firm. The construction contract also will include the building of 1 1/3 miles of Interstate 65 – the Indianapolis-to-Chicago expressway – northwest of Indianapolis.”

One of the things that keeps coming up when it comes to the interstates, their designations and their contracts is the actual name for I-465. Legally, that’s what it was, Interstate 465. However, for many years, until the interstate was done, or even beyond, the news media would not only refer to it as Interstate 465, but as the New State Road 100. A lot of people at the time simply saw it as a replacement for SR 100, which it was. This was also brought on by the fact that the original contracts from the state had project numbers for both roads.

This contract covered I-465 from a point north of US 136 to West 62nd Street. It would run west of High School Road through the area. The section of Interstate 65 included in this contract would run “parallel with and west of U.S. 52, from just northwest of West 65th to just southeast of High School Road.” The bid for this contract was $2,257,679.81.

The same company won the $1,705,758.49 bid to construct Interstate 74 from SR 267 in Brownsburg to just east of the Hendricks-Marion County Line. This 4.5 mile section of what the News referred to as the “Indianapolis to central Illinois expressway” would be built north of US 136.

As is typical of the way Indiana bids contracts for road projects, bridges and roads are bid separately. The above contracts did not allow for bridges…just the approaches. Bridges would be bid usually earlier than the road.

The first new Ohio River bridge linking Indiana and Kentucky in 30 years was let on a bid of $994,979.58 to Roy Ryan & Sons of Evansville. “The bridge will be double-decked, with three lanes of one way traffic on one level and three lanes of one way traffic on the other level.”

Three bridges were let on the Interstate 74 project mentioned above. Ruckman & Hansen, Inc., of Fort Wayne, won two of them. $187,129 for the bridge over Big White Lick Creek west of SR 267, and $219,553 for the bridge over SR 267. Carl M. Geupel Construction Company bid $218,712 to build a county road bridge over Interstate 74, 1.2 miles southeast of SR 267.

These were among the first contracts to be let on the new Interstate highway system in Indiana. Many more would come.

Indianapolis and Requested Changes to the Interstates

The construction of the interstates in and around Indianapolis were always contentious. Whether it be a direct route to the northeast side, or the routing of Interstate 65 from downtown, controversy was never a stranger to the entire process. Things were desired, things were shot down. Today, I want to focus on some requests from the Metropolitan Plan Commission to the State Highway Commission when it came to the designs of both I-465 on the east side and I-65 on the south side. These requests were publicized in July 1968.

The reason that the Metropolitan Plan Commission ever was involved in the first place was a then new Federal regulation designating the group as the review agency for the entire region. The MPC was given review powers over any project that used Federal funds in any way.

The first project that they wanted to change involved I-465 from 56th Street to White River. The major recommendation for this project is that land be acquired between the interstate and Shadeland Avenue, then SR 100, for landscaping between the two. The MPC also made the request that SR 100 between Fort Benjamin Harrison and Castleton be widened, eventually.

Two other recommendations for I-465 were purchase of more right of way in the area of Allisonville Road and 82nd Street, and the removal of the planned 75th Street bridge. The first would allow improvements to the intersection of Allisonville and 82nd…something that is always needed, especially after improvements are made. The second would have eliminated any crossing of the interstate between 82nd Street, which at the time was SR 100, and 71st Street.

The major recommendations were made to the south side on Interstate 65, however. Those recommendations would lead to a very different scenario for those traveling I-65 between Thompson Road and Whiteland Road.

The first recommendation involved Stop 8 Road, now called Edgewood Avenue. The original plan involved Stop 8 Road crossing over the interstate, as it does to this day. The MPC recommended that plan be scrapped, and a full interchange be put in at Stop 8 Road. The building of the current overpass at Edgewood required the demolition of two homes, and the building of an access road to several others. As shown in the 1962 MapIndy aerial photograph below, it would have required much more ROW acquisition.

The second recommendation was to change the planned interchange at Southport Road to just a grade separation. That’s right. The busy intersection of Southport Road and Emerson Avenue would have not involved an interstate interchange as it does today. I am unsure why such a recommendation would have been made. Below is an aerial picture of the area in 1962.

Next, the Metropolitan Plan Commission recommended a change to the width of the Stop 11 bridge clearance, making it wider. This would allow a wider roadway under Stop 11 Road. They also recommended that it be considered for conversion to a full interchange at a later point.

The last two recommendations would allow for a wider roadway for the interstate, and room for expansion later. The two bridges that would be involved were the Emerson Avenue bridge and the County Line Road bridge. The ROW under these two structures, it was recommended, should be wider.

In the end, most of the recommendations involving interchanges were shot down in the end. Southport Road became the access point to I-65. You could still cross the interstates at Edgewood Avenue, Stop 11 Road, and 75th Street. The bridges at Emerson and County Line were made wider and higher for future expansion.

SR 67 in Northeast Marion County

When the Great Renumbering occurred on 1 October 1926, the number 67 was assigned to the Pendleton Pike connecting Indianapolis to Pendleton, through Lawrence and Oaklandon. This would be part of the greater State Road 67 stretching from Vincennes to Muncie…and later to the Ohio State Line. But the route in Indianapolis, and northeast Marion County, would carry the road along Massachusetts Avenue to the city limits, where the name would change to Pendleton Pike.

One of the first changes would involve the adding of US 36 to the same path. Although US 36 is higher in priority, most of the businesses along the old route kept the “67” as part of their names if it included it. As a matter of fact, I find it hard to believe that even today, there are no businesses along that road that include the number “36,” at least as I can recall. But there is a Motel 6t7…with a US route shield shaped sign…as shown to the left.

Changes were being planned for the road in 1933, when it was decided that SR 67 (and as a result, US 36) would be three laned from Indianapolis to Anderson. This would result in a change in the historic path of the Pendleton Pike from northeast of the then town of Lawrence to just south of Pendleton. In Oaklandon, for instance, the old SR 67 followed the current path of Pendleton Pike to what is now Oaklandon Road (formerly Germantown Road, named after the village that is now currently under water in Geist Reservoir at the Marion-Hamilton County line). The road then went north on Germantown (Oaklandon) to Broadway, turning northeast on that street. The old connection between Broadway (old SR 67) and the current Pendleton Pike (US 36/SR 67) still can be seen northeast of Oaklandon.

In 1935, the State Highway Commission decided that the number of miles inside the City of Indianapolis that it had to maintain would best be served if the number was lower. At the time, most of the northern city limit was at 38th Street, the dividing line between the middle tier and northern tier of townships. Where the Pendleton Pike now ends, at 38th Street west of Shadeland, was where the city ended at that point in history.

A bridge contract was let to Edward F. Smith to build a five span, 217 foot long bridge over the Big Four Railroad along 38th Street west of the intersection with SR 67, which was Massachusetts Avenue/Pendleton Pike. The bridge, in 1935, cost $143,825.01. The Indianapolis News of 25 May 1935 states that “Thirty-eighth street, with this and other contemplated improvements, is to become State Road 67. Construction will start in a few days and is scheduled to be completed by November 15.” Plans to move SR 67 to the 38th Street corridor were mentioned in newspapers as far back as June 1933, when plans for a new Fall Creek bridge on 38th Street, near the State Fair Grounds, were in the works.

While construction was going on between Indianapolis and Anderson in 1935, the official detour route had changed in late June. The original detour involved taking US 40 to Greenfield, then north on SR 9 to Pendleton. The new official detour recommended using SR 13 (became SR 37, now Allisonville Road) to SR 32 in Noblesville, then SR 32 to Anderson. This was recommended over the SR 38 route to Pendleton since SR 32 was a hard surface road, and large section of the newly added SR 38 were still gravel.

By 1937, SR 67 would find itself skirting Indianapolis, at least on the north side, along 38th Street. The old SR 67, Massachusetts Avenue, would find itself labelled SR 367. The three lane project between Indianapolis and Anderson would be completed, and Oaklandon would find itself bypassed by one of the two transportation facilities that made it possible. Now, most of what is left of SR 67 on the northeast side of Marion County (Pendleton Pike from I-465 east) is at least five lanes wide…but quite a bit of it is seven.

1917: Main Roads to Fort Benjamin Harrison Need Work

When Fort Benjamin Harrison was built in Lawrence Township, in northeastern Marion County, getting there was quite the chore. It has been built along the Big Four’s Bellefontaine, or Bee, line. This allowed steam locomotives to pass by the new Army post on a regular basis. The Big Four, with its affiliation with the New York Central, could get Army traffic to and from the fort to almost any place in the United States without much effort.

The workforce for the new fort would come on either the Bee line, or the new Indiana Union Traction line that connected Indianapolis to Anderson, Muncie and Fort Wayne. Although it didn’t last much more than three decades, this was an important way to access the fort. The station for that interurban line still exists…and is open to the public as a Mexican restaurant (as of this writing) called the Hacienda.

But automobile traffic was becoming more and more important. Even more important was the transit of Army vehicles to and from Fort Benjamin Harrison. To that end, in the spring of 1917, the commander of the station, General Edwin F. Glenn, sought to get improvements to the road system to the fort. With this in mind, he held a conference with Marion County government and business leaders to share what he had in mind.

The Indianapolis Star, 10 June 1917. Map of the north east side of Marion County, showing improvements needed to access Fort Benjamin Harrison.

First and foremost in the General’s mind was the main road to the fort – the Pendleton Pike. Technically, the Pendleton Pike started at the limits of the City of Indianapolis at Bee Line connection to the Indianapolis Belt Railway just east of Brightwood Avenue (Sherman Drive). West of that point, it was called Massachusetts Avenue. The county had taken over the Pendleton Toll Road in the late 1880s. But little was done for its improvement or maintenance. By the time the Army created the fort, the road was little more than a connection to other roads in rural Marion County and downtown Indianapolis. Many battles were fought about the improvement of the road, lasting past the end of World War I, when such improvements were vital.

The Pendleton Pike, in 1917, was being improved…slowly but surely. The plan was to concrete the road from the Indianapolis City Limits to 38th Street, just west of what is now Shadeland Avenue. From there, the first of the two sections to the fort’s main north-south entrance, would be improved with heavy stone. This would take the heavy stone from 38th Street to the old Noblesville-Franklin State Road, or Franklin Road. The next section would be graveled. This section ran from Franklin Road to the Yerger or Acre Free Gravel Road, now known as Post Road. The section of the Post Road, connecting Pendleton Pike to the interior of Fort Benjamin Harrison, was being hard surfaced with a “special preparation,” according to the Indianapolis Star of 10 June 1917.

The next road to get attention was the “54th Street Road,” connecting west from the fort to Millersville. Those of you from the area might be a little confused. The village of Millersville was along the Fall Creek, just inside the Washington Township border at what is now Emerson Way. The main drag from Fort Benjamin Harrison is now called 56th Street, not 54th. That road was built along the half-survey line starting where the Millersville and Fall Creek Free Gravel Roads come together near what is now Emerson Way at Millersville Road. The highlighted section of the following MapIndy photo, from 1952, shows the original route connecting the Millersville Road to the old Fall Creek & Mud Creek Road. (At the time, what is now Rucker Road continued south of what is now Fall Creek Road. It would be that way until sometime before 1962, when two lakes were built. The Rucker Road extension would finally be taken out sometime between 1979 and 1986.)

The Millersville Road, according to the Indianapolis Star “is by no means a direct route to the fort. It begins at Thirty-eighth street and Fall Creek and meanders northeast about eight miles to the famous Baker’s bridge and thence southeast a quarter of a mile to the fort grounds.” Baker’s Bridge is along the old Noblesville-Franklin State Road, now called Boy Scout Road, in the northwest corner of the Fort Benjamin Harrison grounds. General Glenn wanted the entirety of the Millersville Road covered with gravel…a job that, according to the General, with five wagons in two days. The first three miles of the Millersville Road had already been improved with asphalt. The next half mile being oiled gravel. The rest of the road was gravel…and work was being done at the time to repair damage done by large, heavy, loads transiting the road.

Other roads being worked on for access to the fort were the National Road from Irvington to Acre Road, Emerson Avenue, Arlington Avenue, 34th Street and the Acre Road itself.

At the time, National Road was the actual name of the Washington Street extension outside the limits of the City of Indianapolis at Sheridan Avenue in Irvington. West of Sheridan, it was Washington. East of that point, it was the National Road. The first mile of the National Road, from Sheridan Avenue, was being concreted. That would end near what is now Shortridge Road and Washington Street. The next two miles from Shortridge Road east were already concreted at that time. That would take it to a point east of Acre (Post) Road. The Acre Road, as of 10 June 1917, was closed for construction of a stone road stretching five miles north to the Pendleton Pike and into the fort.

Emerson and Arlington Avenues were also under construction at the time. Both were being concreted from Washington Street (both are west of Sheridan Avenue) to the Pendleton Pike. Emerson Avenue met Pendleton Pike at roughly 30th Street. Emerson Avenue, at least the southern section of said, ended at the Bee Line. Neither 30th Street nor Emerson Avenue crossed the railroad tracks, and passage past those tracks was done at an underpass on 32nd Street.

Arlington Avenue meets Pendleton Pike (now Massachusetts Avenue) at 34th Street. Improvements along 34th Street included asphalt paving from the Lake Erie & Western (Nickel Plate) Railroad crossing for three miles to the east to what was the northern section of Emerson Avenue. From there to Arlington Avenue, 34th Street was a stone road. Prior to being called 34th Street, the road was the Fall Creek & Warren Township Free Gravel Road.

It would take some time until the roads were improved for to the General’s liking. With the creation of the Indiana State Highway Commission in 1917, the National Road was taken over as Main Market Road #3. It wouldn’t be until 1923 that the Pendleton Pike would find itself part of the state highway system, entering that system as Original State Road 37. By then, the war was over, and traffic to Fort Benjamin Harrison had, while not stopping completely, had slowed considerably as it normally does after the completion of a war. The fort would, eventually, get its connections to the road system other than SR 67/US 36 (Pendleton Pike). In 1941, 56th Street west out of the fort would become part of SR 534, a designation it would only hold for a few years before that state road was routed straight down Shadeland Avenue. With the building of the Interstate system, which was technically built for the defense of the United States, Fort Benjamin Harrison would find itself with two exits from I-465 (Pendleton Pike and 56th Street) and one on I-70 (Post Road). I suppose the Post Road exit on I-74 could technically be listed as part of that…but it is quite a distance from the Fort.

The Building of I-465

The building of the Indianapolis bypass, Interstate 465, involved a lot of pieces to fall together. Property acquisition was a big part of that. Then came the money involved in building the interstate in the first place.

The Indianapolis News, on 14 December 1959, published the above photograph showing the first section of Interstate 465 to be built. It was already under construction when the article was published. Two contracts, on for the 46th Street overpass ($149,968.03) and the 56th Street overpass ($168,178.51) had already been signed. It is mentioned in the caption that “design work hasn’t been completed on the Interstate 64-465 cloverleaf interchange, although a $582,836.95 bid has been received for part of the work.” One wonders where that cloverleaf might have been.

Even before that, it was announced in the Indianapolis News of 30 April 1959 that the contract had been let for the grade separation (bridge) for 34th Street over the new interstate. What is of particular note is the line “over west leg of new Ind. 100, to be renumbered Interstate 465.”

Late 1962 would be the planned bidding date for a contract to build a new interchange in the already completed northwest leg of I-465. At the time, 38th Street was being extended and improved across northwestern Marion County. It was decided by the Highway Commission to create a diamond interchange where 38th Street crossed over I-465. At the time, there were no interchanges on the northwest side between I-74/US 136 and I-65.

Indianapolis News, 08 August 1962, showing progress on I-465 construction through Beech Grove.

The end of November, 1962, saw the announcement of a $3,197,216.11 contract to build the interstate from Meridian Street to Carson Avenue on the south side of Marion County. This contract was let on the same day they were opened. This was to allow for quicker construction of the bypass. Also, this was to give the contractor as much time as possible to complete construction before the deadline on December 1963. The 2.3 miles of new road and five bridges involved in this section of interstate would bring the highway to almost the pending interchange at I-65.

Another contract had to be let in this section when it was realized that the banks of Lick Creek, with the interstate built on both sides near Carson Avenue, had to be reinforced. To the tune of $298,014.40. The creek, as of 21 April 1964, had eroded its bank the previous winter requiring the building of additional slope walls and revetments to keep the creek where it belonged between the two directions of I-465.

In 1963, a contract bid to build the large interchange on the south side of Marion County between I-65 and I-465 was one of the bigger contracts. The project involved eight bridges and two miles of pavement to connect two of the sections that were already under construction or completed. The low bid on that particular contract was $3,507,672.18 by McMahan Construction Company of Rochester and R. L. Schutt Construction Company of Indianapolis. This bid was announced publicly on 20 April 1963.

Indianapolis News, 24 July 1967, showing the construction progress of the 56th Street bridge over (future) I-465.

The first contract to be opened up after the Fall 1964 completion of I-465 between I-74 and SR 100 (Shadeland Avenue) was the bidding, starting 25 May 1965, of a single bridge over US 52 (Brookville Road) and the Baltimore & Ohio railroad tracks on the southeast side of the county. This contract, and the rest of them connecting I-74 to US 40 on the east side had been on hold due to right-of-way difficulties. Norman F. Schafer, executive director of the State Highway Commission, commented that the summer of 1965 would be the first time in more than four years that no major construction was underway on the beltway.

Indianapolis News, 24 August 1967. Construction underway on the north leg…and a proposed SR 100 connecting the west leg at I-65 to the north leg west of Zionsville Road. This section would be built as SR 100, but like the rest of the route, would become part of I-465, causing confusion for over two decades with the “dog leg.”

The north and northeast legs of I-465 would be the hardest to complete. So much so that in July 1968, the Noblesville Ledger ran photos of the construction of the interstate through the small section of Hamilton County through which it passes. It is mentioned that the “State Highway Department schedules call for ‘phasing out’ I-465 construction from it western link with I-65 east to White River by the first winter freeze. However, I-164 from just north of Fall Creek northwest to White River will not start this year.” I would share the photos from that newspaper, but they are very dark and hard to see.

Indianapolis News, 17 March 1960. Proposed new route for the north leg of I-465 through Boone and Hamilton Counties.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one “might have been” on this entry. I found this map of another proposal for the north leg of the bypass. On 30 Janaury 2020, I wrote “Alternate Routes for I-465 on North Side of Indianapolis,” but didn’t find this map. I thought it appropriate to share it here.

SR 37, A Review

One of the blogs that I follow everyday is that of Jim Grey. I started reading his blog over a year before I created the Indiana Transportation History Facebook page. It was because of that blog that I asked him to help me admin that group. He was also the one that encouraged me to start this blog…telling me, correctly, that it would be easier to keep track of the information I have been sharing in blog form than in a Facebook group. His blog is called “Down The Road.”

Jim had been sharing his passion for photography and road trips in the Facebook group. His topic has been that of SR 37. Due to those posts, I decided to put together a collection of posts that I have shared over the past 16 months that cover the same subject. Check out his photos on the subject at his blog, or through links on the Facebook group.

Waverly

In the early years of the state of Indiana, a small village located at the Bluffs of the White River became the meeting place for commissioners that set out to determine the location of the new state capital. Two years before that, in 1818, a trail was cut through the wilderness from Brookville that came to be known as the Whetzel Trace. Later on, a road was built north to the new state capital at Indianapolis. Because it went to the Bluffs of the White River, it was called Bluff Road.

Paoli State Road

When the Bluff Road was built, it was included in a longer “state” road that stretched from Indianapolis, through Martinsville, Bloomington and Bedford to Paoli. It would become the basis for original state road 22, and later, the original path of State Road 37.

White River on Indianapolis’ South Side, and its Effects

This article focused more on the effects of the Indianapolis Southern/Illinois Central Railroad, but it DID affect the routing of State Road 37. When SR 37 came into being, it ended at Washington and Meridian Streets, following Meridian Street south to Bluff Avenue (now Road) for its journey out of Marion County. The White River was moved, and the state built a new SR 37 over the old river.

Road Trip 1926: SR 37

On 1 October 1926, the entire state road system was renumbered. State Road 37 was given to what had been State Road 22 from Indianapolis south. The new State Road 37 was designated only south of the capital city.

Winners and Losers, Routing the Dixie Highway Through Indiana

When the committees met to create Carl Fisher’s Dixie Highway, political and personal gain played a part. Especially south of Indianapolis. While Fisher wanted the route to go directly from Indianapolis to Louisville, someone else wanted the same thing…just with a detour through Paoli. The latter won.

Original SR 22 – The “Fight” For the Way to Martinsville

The fastest way to Martinsville from Indianapolis wasn’t always the Bluff Road. When the state started taking over roads, a discussion was had to decide what road would be taken over to get to Martinsville. The choice was between the Vincennes Road and the Bluff Road. Eventually, it would be both.

Removing the Bluff Road Bridge Over the Illinois Central/Indiana Railroad

The Indianapolis Southern Railroad was chartered in 1902, and it crossed the old Bluff Road at an odd angle. The Dixie Highway used the route starting in 1914. In 1923, it became State Road 22. In 1925, a bridge was built over the railroad due to increased traffic on both the road and the railroad.

The Dixie Highway In Morgan County

One of the most bypassed roads in the state is SR 37. And very few more so than SR 37 in Morgan County. But this article focuses on the Dixie Highway through the county…and how it was originally routed through the area.

State Highway Department Construction Plans for 1963-1965

This article is included because part of the plan was to build a new SR 37 through the west side of Indianapolis, and connect it to I-465 at Harding Street. The Harding Street connection would be made. It would be a complete reroute of SR 37 from I-465 south to Martinsville. It ended up that SR 37 would be routed along I-465 from Harding Street to East Street (US 31), and be multiplexed with US 31 all the way to 38th Street on the northside of the city.

Expanding SR 37 from Martinsville to Oolitic

The last article about the routing of SR 37 I want to share is the latest one posted. In the 1970s, SR 37 was being moved and widened from Martinsville to Bedford. The section north of Martinsville had already been moved and widened…in conjunction with the construction of I-465 around Indianapolis.

Connecting 16th Street from US 52 to SR 29

When I posted about routes to get to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, someone of Facebook had posted a comment about the direct route using Indiana Avenue and 16th Street from downtown Indianapolis. I responded that part of the problem was that 16th Street, at the time (1919) did not exist between Lafayette Road and Northwestern Avenue (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street). After crossing the White River on the Emrichsville Bridge, the streets turned either north onto White River Parkway East Drive or southeast onto what was Crawfordsville Road.

The junction of Indiana Avenue/10th Street/Fall Creek/
Crawfordsville Road

It should also be noted that the most people, at that time, thought of Crawfordsville Road (now Waterway Boulevard) as the first choice as it was the one that had been in place the longest. Indiana Avenue came long after the Crawfordsville Road, and both of those streets connected to Indiana Avenue at 10th Street across Fall Creek. The moving of the south end of Waterway Boulevard, as it is today, didn’t happen until sometime after World War II.

But west of the White River, at 16th Street, was both US 52 (Lafayette Road) and SR 34 (16th Street). The state roads followed White River West Drive to Washington Street, because the road didn’t exist east of the river. This would connect US 52 (and possibly SR 34) to US 40 under what is now the Indianapolis Zoo.

It would be shortly after the 1919 map was published that 16th Street would be built from Indiana Avenue to the Emrichsville Bridge. But that was the extent of the new 16th Street. And even then, the 16th Street that was built was north of where it should have been. 16th Street through Marion County, of most of it, is along the half section line. Since the Emrichsville Bridge was angled north as it crossed west to east, 16th Street would be connected north of the half-section line where it belonged.

1926 Indianapolis map of the sections of 16th Street at that time between White River and Northwestern Avenue.

Fast forward to 1933. The Indianapolis Board of Public Works decided on several projects to be completed during the 1934 construction season. Two of the projects included bridges over Fall Creek. One of those would be on 16th Street. By this time, there was a short section of 16th Street from Gent Avenue to Fall Creek and just barely west of Northwestern Avenue.

The bridge over Fall Creek would allow connection between the two sections of 16th Street. Another part of the project would be widening the road that was there. In 1934 money, the project to construct and widen 16th Street from Northwestern Avenue to the Emrichsville Bridge would cost $280,000. The new bridge over Fall Creek would cost $250,000.

A remodel of the Emrichsville Bridge would also be part of the project. The northwest wing of the bridge would be cut off and the south sidewalk to be completely removed to create a better turning angle between the sections of 16th Street on either end. The city wouldn’t have to foot the entire bill for the new construction and widening. The city was working with the Indiana State Highway Commission for federal funding (at that time, a 50/50 split) for the project as the state would most likely (and did) add that section of 16th Street to the state highway system as part of US 52 and SR 34.

Another part of this project would be the widening of West Street from 16th Street to Bluff Road. From Washington Street north West Street was SR 29. From Washington Street south, it would become SR 37. Again, the cost would be shared between the ISHC and the federal government.

Indianapolis News, 27 October 1948

The Emrichsville Bridge would last another 14 years. It was torn down in 1948 to create a wider, more direct bridge for 16th Street/US 52/SR 34 across White River. Ultimately, the new 16th Street from White River to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street would look as it does in the Google map shown below. It would also remain a state road until the late 1970s, when US 136 (formerly SR 34) was removed from inside the I-465 loop. US 52 had been the first removed and rerouted along I-465 when that road was complete from the northwest side to the southeast side.

State Highway Department Construction Plans for 1963-1965

On 14 November 1961, the Indiana State Highway Department announced its plans for the construction projects for the two year period between 1 July 1963 and 30 June 1965. The two year project between 1961 and 1963 was planned to cost $268.3 million. The 1963-1965 plans would cost slightly less, at $235.2 million. The projected construction would build 408.06 miles of roads across the state.

Of that 408 miles, almost 154 miles of that would be for the interstate highway system. Put on the books to be built in that time was most of Interstate 69 in Indiana. Nearly 103 miles of that road, from Pendleton to the Indiana Toll Road, were to be placed under contract and built starting in July 1963. It would focus on two sections: Pendleton to southwest of Fort Wayne; and US 6 to the Toll Road.

Another interstate project, accounting for 17.7 miles of road, included Interstate 74 from Lizton to Crawfordsville. This was a continuation of the interstate from its then end at Lizton, which would be opened in the fall of 1961 from I-465’s west leg to Lizton.

Another interstate project included in the plan was that of Interstate 65 in Lake County from the county line to the toll road. This project included 22.7 miles of new interstate highway.

David Cohen, State Highway Commission chairman, stated that the construction of connections with I-65 and I-69 would help the “financially-ailing toll road.” In addition to the new interstate connections, the Toll Road Commission would be helped by their own lobbying. The Highway Commission had been put under pressure to slow construction on the Tri-State Highway, a toll free alternative to the turnpike. No projects involving the Tri-State were listed in the 1963-1965 plans.

Marion County would have its share of projects in the Construction Program. Interstate 465 would be the biggest recipient. Construction of the highway from Raymond Street to 56th Street was the largest part of the plan. Also, if the design and location of the east and north legs (from 56th Street to I-65 near Whitestown) was approved by federal officials, preliminary engineering and right of way acquisition would be conducted as part of this program.

At this point, the rest of I-465 (west and south legs) was opened, under construction, or in the 1961-1963 program. The plans for the east leg included 21 road and railroad grade separations and a bridge over Pendleton Pike (US 36/SR 67).

Three preliminary engineering projects involving the Marion County interstates were also included in the 1963-1965 program: I-65 north and west from 16th Street west of Methodist Hospital; I-69 from Pendleton to the north leg of I-465; and I-70 from I-465 west leg to West Street. Cohen mentioned no time table for the beginning of construction of the interstates in Indianapolis, but said that a section of I-65 from 38th Street north and west could be part of the 1965-1967 program.

There was a lot of other projects on the 1963-1965 program. SR 67 from Martinsville to Mooresville was to be expanded into a divided highway, and some of the kinks were to be eliminated. The new SR 37 from the south leg of I-465 to 38th Street, and divided highway treatment for 38th Street from Northwestern Avenue/Michigan Road to Capitol Avenue were also included. The SR 37 project was never completed.

A new SR 431 was also planned, starting at the north leg of SR 100 (86th Street) to US 31 at the north end of Carmel. This project would tie the new SR 431 to US 31 near the junction with the then current SR 431. At the time, SR 431 was Range Line Road/Westfield Blvd. The new SR 431 would become known as Keystone Avenue…now Keystone Parkway through Carmel.

Indianapolis News, 14 November 1961. This map shows the extent of the 1963-1965 State Highway Department Construction Program. Solid black lines show the 1963-1965 plans. Dotted lines show the 1961-1963 plan.

I-465 Construction, the PRR and Madison Avenue

Indianapolis served as a railroad capital for many years before the coming of the automobile. Since surface roads connected Indianapolis to many points in the state in many directions, it was logical that the coming of the automobile would lead to a concentration of automobile routes. But those were still subject to the locations of railroads. The interstate would change all that.

The purpose of the interstate was to create a high speed, limited interruption traffic flow. This, by definition, would require the new interstates to deal with going over or under those rail routes. Most of those intersections were accomplished with the interstate going over the railroads. And these overpasses are high, due to the clearances that were going to be required by the railroads at the time.

If one looks at a map of Interstate 465, one would notice that there is only one railroad bridge over the interstate. That bridge is the original Madison & Indianapolis, then Pennsylvania Railroad, on the southside. The reason for this really came down to the location of the interstate more than anything else.

When the interstate’s location was decided, it would follow closely to the original chosen location to SR 100 which it was replacing. That original location, in terms of Indianapolis modern street names, was Shadeland Avenue, 82nd/86th Street, High School Road, and Thompson Road. A quick glance at a map shows this.

On the southside, through the south central part of the county, this led to the interstate route traversing through the Lick Creek “valley.” The Pennsylvania Railroad already had a bridge over Lick Creek in the area. That same bridge also crossed the road leading into what was Longacre Park (being turned into a trailer park from September 1963), which had been in that location since 1926.

Louisville & Indiana (former Madison & Indianapolis/Panhandle/Pennsylvania Railroad) bridge over Lick Creek and Lick Creek Parkway into Longacre Mobile Home Park. This Google Maps image was sampled on 10 May 2020, from an image captured in June 2019. This image shows both the original bridge and the 1964 concrete expansion places on top to raise the level of the railroad.

The level of the railroad over that section of the coming interstate was right around 13 feet above ground level. This amount of clearance wasn’t enough for the State Highway Commission. This would require the Pennsylvania Railroad to raise the level of the railroad about three feet. This can be seen by the concrete extension over and above the old stone bridge over Lick Creek and Lick Creek Parkway just south of the interstate.

Google Map aerial photo of the Louisville & Indiana crossing of Interstate 465. Image was sampled 10 May 2020.

The Indianapolis Star of 27 March 1964, in a news story announcing road closures throughout the area, mentions that “Lawrence Street will be blocked for two weeks while the Pennsylvania Railroad elevated and repairs the tracks in connection with Interstate 465 construction.”

Also at work at the time was the Madison Avenue crossing of Interstate 465. Before the coming of the interstate, Madison Avenue had been a two lane state road, SR 431, south of Shelby Street. The main access to Longacre Park was actually north of Lick Creek, as shown in the following 1952 aerial photograph from MapIndy. The trailer park along Madison Avenue at Redfern Drive would come into direct play when I-465 started construction through the area.

1957 MapIndy aerial photograph of the Lick Creek area from Madison Avenue to Longacre Park.

Before the interstate construction would reach the area, a redesign of the Madison Avenue crossing of the area was already in process. The new bridge across the future interstate and Lick Creek would be two lanes in each direction. To accommodate this construction, a new, temporary, Madison Avenue would have to be built to bypass the area of the new bridge. Also, utility lines would also have to moved to the east.

1962 MapIndy aerial image of the area of Madison Avenue and Lick Creek.

The image to the left is the 1962 aerial photograph of the area from MapIndy. It shows the bypass Madison Avenue being built through the mobile home park at Redfern Drive mentioned above. The bypass would start south of the current Lick Creek Parkway, and reconnect to Madison Avenue right at the angled intersection of Shelby Street. The bypass route can be seen as the brighter road through the left center of the photo. (It hadn’t seen traffic yet, and as such was brand new concrete.)

Some people have wondered why Madison Avenue is the only (former) State Road that did not have an interchange with Interstate 465. Spacing is the only answer I could come up with. The Pennsylvania Railroad is one-quarter mile, or so, east of Madison Avenue. East Street, the US 31 bypass built in the early 1940’s, is one half mile west of Madison Avenue…not counting the ramp lengths. Shelby Street is one half mile east of East Street through its entire length through Marion County.

1962 MapIndy closeup aerial photo of the Madison Avenue bridge construction over future I-465 and Lick Creek.

The bypass Madison Avenue built in 1962 would become the frontage road in what was later the Madison Mobile Home Park. It is now called McConnell Way. A quick glance at utility lines through the area show that they weren’t been moved back to the side of Madison Avenue after construction was completed. The following aerial photograph, from 1972, shows the construction through the area completed.

1972 MapIndy aerial photograph of Madison Avenue and (then) Penn Central crossing of I-465 and Lick Creek.

For those interested, the cover photo for this post is the same area shown in all the other photos as would have been seen in 1937. That image is also from MapIndy. MapIndy is available online at: http://maps.indy.gov/MapIndy/index.html.

Building I-465 at West 21st Street

When the interstate system worked its way to Indiana, the plan for a bypass around Indianapolis was on the books as part of the project. Even before the route numbers were nailed down, the destinations and relative locations were in place. What would become I-465 would take almost a decade to build – more if you count the section from I-65 to I-865 on the northwest side of Marion County. (For more information about that statement, see “The Beginning of I-465,” published on 16 May 2019.) But I-465 was contentious…and not entirely for the reasons one would think.

Indianapolis Star, 11 August 1961.

The first real bone of contention (other than the coming destruction of entire sections of Marion County) was the area where I-465 and 21st Street meet on the west side. The section of the current interstate from Crawfordsville Road south to almost 10th Street runs very close to Big Eagle Creek. The town of Speedway at the time suffered from flooding on a regular basis. The state planned for 21st Street to cross over the interstate. Local residents, and county government, wanted the opposite…the interstate to cross over 21st Street. Part of the argument was that the state had already planned to elevate sections of the road on both sides of 21st Street. Why not keep the elevation for the 21st Street section.

Part of the argument was flooding…or the potential for such. People in the town of Speedway were under the impression that running 21st Street under the interstate would form a valve to keep flooding to a minimum. As the Indianapolis Star pointed out in an editorial piece on 24 August 1961, “nothing could be further from the truth.” The interstate was graded far above the maximum flood level at Eagle Creek. The building of an underpass for 21st Street, it is pointed out, would require a complete new system of levees to be built to control the flooding of 21st Street. The problem for Speedway and flooding was not an interstate overpass, but major work needed on Eagle Creek.

It was pointed out in another article that the plans for I-465 included, in the embankment for the bridges, four channels for water to flow through the area not actually in Eagle Creek. The Indianapolis Star of 9 July 1961 reported that Joseph I. Perrey, chief engineer for the Indiana Flood Control and Water Resources Commission, stated that no matter what was built at I-465 and 21st Street, the problem with Speedway flooding was more controlled by the 21st Street bridge over Eagle Creek. “The construction of 21st Street either under or over Interstate 465 will have no affect in stopping flooding.” Mr. Perrey continued “but a new county bridge could alleviate the situation somewhat.”

Progress was made towards changing the state’s mind about the 21st Street overpass. Summer of 1961 saw a flurry of activity. The state agreed to change the project, if the county put up a $50,000 bond to cover any cost overruns due to the change. The deadline for the county agreeing to that provision, and thus the contract to change the plans, was 21 August 1961. County Commissioners agreed to sign the deal that day, if they could include a provision to delay the posting of the bond. By law, the county said, it would take five days to make the money available.

But the State Highway Commission was also in a bind at this point. Construction had reached a point where concrete was ready to pour. Any delay in that poring could have resulted in the contractor suing the state. In addition to the changing of 21st Street from an overpass to an underpass, the county was asking that 21st Street be built four lanes wide, instead of two, to “avoid a greater expenditure if 21st must be widened later.” (Source: Indianapolis News, 21 August 1961)

The whole thing was made worse when the county questioned the state about the current status of the contract. (Source: Indianapolis Star, 8 September 1961) “The State Highway Commission yesterday refused the ‘bait’ offered by the Marion County Board of Commissioners to cancel the contract obligating the county commissioners to pay for the time the state suspended operations on Interstate 465.” The state was expected to send the county a bill for the six day shutdown of construction on the interstate due to the county trying to raise the bond money. The county, for its part, wanted the contract to be declared cancelled…which the state wasn’t having.

Add to this, the county stating that they weren’t paying anything until a full accounting was relayed to them. They expected it to be, roughly, $1,000 a day, not the $25,000 the State Highway Commission expected.

Meanwhile, the whole decision to build a 21st Street bridge over I-465 was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Public Roads. That investigation started when three local residents accused the Highway Commissioner of conflict of interest, and hinted that his three sons would benefit from the building of an overpass. Indications were that libel suits would start flying from the Commissioner’s sons once cleared by the Federal investigation.

“The controversy over the intersection of I-465 and 21st Street was started by Jules T. Gradison who owns the land around the intersection. He demanded that 21st Street pass under I-465 and the state agreed to the change when the county commissioners offered to pay the extra cost, estimated at from $150,000 to $200,000.” Mr. Gradison also pointed out that he would have given any extra acreage needed to change the plan free of charge.

21st Street crosses over I-465 to this day. The overpass is also, to this day, only two lanes wide. With the many reconstructions of I-465 through that area, the 21st Street overpass has allowed for the widening of 465 needed over the years.

Indianapolis and the Original ISHC State Road System

I have posted much about the creation of the Indiana State Highway Commission. As of the posting of this article, the age of the Commission is either 103 or 101 years old. The original ISHC was established in 1917…but met with a lot of problems. It was finally nailed down in 1919 and made permanent.

This also creates a dating problem when it comes to the state highways. The first five state highways, then known as Main Market Roads, were established in 1917 with the original ISHC. Two of those original Main Market Highways connected to Indianapolis. The original National Road had been given the number Main Market Road 3. The Range Line Road, connecting Indianapolis to Peru, and through further connections, to South Bend, was given the Main Market Road 1 label.

When it was finally established, the ISHC changed the name of the Main Market Road to State Road, in keeping with other states surrounding Indiana. The markers used along the roads, painted onto utility poles like the old Auto Trail markers were, resembled the image to the left…the state shape with the words “STATE ROAD” and the route number. In this case, as of 1920, State Road 2 was the original route of the Lincoln Highway through northern Indiana.

The state highway system was designed to, eventually, connect every county seat and town of over 5,000 population, to each other. Indianapolis, as the state capital and the largest city in the state, would have connections aiming in every direction. Most of those roads marked with the original numbers would still be state roads into the 1970s and early 1980s, before the Indiana Department of Highways started removing state roads inside the Interstate 465 loop…and INDOT finishing the job on 1 July 1999. These road were removed for state statutory limitation reasons, and I have discussed that in a previous blog entry. So I won’t do it here.

The original state road numbers that came to Indiana varied greatly, as did their directions. There were no set rules when it came to state road numbers. They were assigned as they came…and stayed that way until the first renumbering of 1923, or the Great Renumbering of 1926.

Let’s look at the original state roads in Marion County, some of which actually did not reach Indianapolis itself.

State Road 1: As mentioned before, State Road 1 was originally called Main Market Highway 1. North of Indianapolis, it followed the Range Line Road, a local Auto Trail, through Carmel, Westfield, to Kokomo and points north. The route north followed Meridian Street north to Westfield Boulevard, then Westfield Boulevard on out to Carmel and beyond. In Carmel, the old road is still called Range Line Road, and serves as the main north-south drag through the town, as it does in Westfield.

South of Indianapolis, State Road 1, like its Main Market Highway predecessor, followed the old Madison State Road out of the city to Southport, Greenwood, Franklin and Columbus. The original SR 1 route is still able to be driven through the south side of Indianapolis, with the exception of the section replaced in the 1950s by the Madison Avenue Expressway. But Old Madison Avenue exists, if you can find your way back there.

While the entirety of original State Road 1 became US 31 with the Great Renumbering, bypasses in Marion County were put in place very early. The northern section, through Broad Ripple, and Carmel was replaced as early as 1930. The southern section, including the Southport/Greenwood bypass, was put in place in the 1940s.

State Road 3: As mentioned above, Main Market Highway/State Road 3 followed the National Road through Marion County. One exception to this is the section of the 1830s National Road that crossed the White River downtown. That section of the old road was removed in 1904 with the demolition of the National Road covered bridge and its replacement with a new, and short lived, Washington Street bridge. With a couple of exceptions other than that (the Bridgeport straightening of the early 1930s, and the new Eagle Creek bridge built in the late 1930s), the old road was followed very accurately until the mid-1980s with the creation of White River State Park. The successor to original SR 3, US 40, was moved to make room for the park. Both US 40 and US 31 lost their designations on 1 July 1999 with the removal of those two routes inside the I-465 loop.

State Road 6: This old state road was a through route when it came to Marion County. From the north, it followed the route of the original Indianapolis-Lafayette State Road from Lebanon. After passing through downtown Indianapolis, it left the county using the original Michigan Road on its way to Shelbyville and Greensburg. The original State Road 6 followed the Michigan Road Auto Trail, not the Historic Michigan Road, meaning it still went to Madison, but it went by way of Versailles, which the historic road did not. With the Great Renumbering, the northern SR 6 became US 52, while the southern SR 6 became SR 29 – later to be renumbered again to US 421.

State Road 22: This road, as it was originally laid out, only lasted from 1920 to 1923. Out of Indianapolis, it followed the old Mooresville State Road through southwestern Marion County. It was designated the original route from Indianapolis to Martinsville, as described in this blog entry. This road will be discussed again a few paragraphs from now.

State Road 39: Another 1830s state road that was taken into the Indiana State Highway Commission’s custody in 1919. This road followed the old Brookville State Road from the National Road out of the county through New Palestine to Rushville and Brookville. The original end of that road, both the 1830s original and the 1919 state highway, is discussed here. The road would become, in October 1926, the other section of US 52 through Indianapolis. It would also eventually become the first state highway removed inside the I-465 loop in Marion County. And even then, it would be rerouted in the late 1990s to go the other way around the county.

That covers the 1919 highways. More would come to Marion County before 1923.

State Road 12: Originally, this road, north of Martinsville, was the old State Road 22 mentioned above. When a new SR 22 was created, the SR 12 number was continued from Martinsville to Indianapolis along the old Vincennes and Mooresville State Roads. This road, in October 1926, would become part of the new State Road 67.

State Road 15: While the southern route of the Michigan Road was State Road 6, the northern part, heading off to Logansport, was added later and given the number State Road 15. The entire route of the historic Michigan Road would never become a state highway, but major sections did…although late in the creation of the state highway system. With the Great Renumbering, this road became SR 29, and in 1951, redesignated, like its southern half, US 421.

State Road 22: Here we go again. State Road 22 was given to the route between Indianapolis and Paoli. In 1919, that included the route along the west bank of the White River from Martinsville to Indianapolis along the Mooresville Road. This was changed by 1923 to keep SR 22 on the east side of White River, where it followed the old Paoli State Road, and the Bluff Road, through Waverly to the south edge of downtown Indianapolis at Meridian and South Streets. This was one of the routes of the Dixie Highway through Indianapolis, and would later become part of SR 37 in 1926.

State Road 31: In 1920, when this road was originally created, it turned south to connect to the National Road west of Plainfield. It had followed the Rockville Road from Montezuma to Danville, then turned southeasterly to meet State Road 3. By 1923, the road was moved from what would later become part of what is now SR 39 to continuing on the Rockville Road into Marion County. State Road 31 would meet the National Road outside the city limits of Indianapolis at what is now the intersection of Holt Road and Washington Street. It would become US 36 before it was extended along the new section of what is now Rockville Road to the intersection at Eagle Creek with Washington Street.

State Road 37: One of two state road numbers that still served Indianapolis after the road numbers were changed in October 1926 (the other being State Road 31). The original State Road 37 left Marion County in a northeasterly direction on its way to Pendleton, Anderson and Muncie. Inside the city limits, the street name was Massachusetts Avenue. When it reached the city limits, the name of the road changed to Pendleton Pike. This still occurs today, with the name change at the old city limits at 38th Street. In October 1926, the number of this road would change to State Road 67.

There were two other major state roads in Marion County, but they weren’t part of the state highway system until after the Great Renumbering. One was the Crawfordsville State Road, part of the original Dixie Highway, connecting Indianapolis to Crawfordsville via Speedway, Clermont, Brownsburg, and half a dozen other towns. It would be added to the state highway system by 1929 as State Road 34. The number would change later to US 136.

The other road was the original Fort Wayne State Road, also known as the Noblesville State Road, but even more commonly called the Allisonville Road. It would be added to the state highway system in 1932 as State Road 13. Less than a decade later, its number would be changed to the more familiar State Road 37.

Bicycling the Fall Creek and Mud Creek Road

On 16 May 1896, the Indianapolis News covered the bicycle route along the Pendleton Pike. That trip went as far as Oakland (now Oaklandon). The continuation of the coverage included leaving the Pendleton Pike to head north toward the town of Germantown, which was on the Hamilton-Marion County line north of Oaklandon. (Germantown is now under Geist Reservoir. There are times, in low water periods, when the old town makes an appearance!)

At Fall Creek, slightly west of due north of Oaklandon, was the Willow Mill. This would have been reached by travelling what is now Sunnyside Road now to the Fall Creek. Just like Germantown, that spot is under Geist Reservoir. Willow Mill would be, roughly, at 86th Street and Sunnyside Road. One mile west of that point was the Fall Creek and Mud Creek Road.

The trail north out of Oaklandon was very, very rough. “It is not a difficult matter to find the worst” of the several ways to get across from Oaklandon. But, for the sheer beauty of a ride, following the Fall Creek and Mud Creek Road would be the one to take.

Palmer’s Official Road Map of Marion County, Indiana, 1895

The Fall Creek Road was one mile from the previously mentioned Willow Mill. This was because the old road followed what is now Sargent Road out of the Fall Creek valley. Climbing out of the valley itself requires walking the bike up a large hill. Between that hill and the Fall Creek Pike, four and a half miles from Oaklandon, “are several pretty good dips and rises.” Here, the Fall Creek Road runs north and south (more or less, if you know Sargent Road). “The rider should turn south.”

One and a half miles later, the road starts down a steep hill, “which, if taken properly, is fine coasting. At the foot of the hill, which brings the road nearly to Fall Creek.” The road then turns southwest, following the creek fairly closely. The road dips in and out of the Fall Creek valley for nearly two miles. This “presents an ever-changing view and makes a picture which will cause many to pay more attention to the beauties of the valley than to their wheels and thereby cause trouble.” The road, mostly, is in excellent condition. But like other roads of the time, there were bad spots that could creep up. It was always recommended that riders pay attention to the road at all times.

After two miles of hilly travel, which the newspaper reports as usually aiming the right direction for riders heading toward Indianapolis, the road swings more to the west for about a mile. This area, today, is Fall Creek North Drive, the road having been replaced with the building of I-465 through the Fall Creek valley. It should be noted that part of this route, before turning more west, had been part of the Noblesville-Franklin State Road, connecting the two title cities. Through most of Marion County, the name is shortened to Franklin Road.

The Fall Creek Road changed names as it crossed Fall Creek at Millersville. This is nine miles from Willow Mill. The route to be followed changes to the Millersville Free Gravel Road. This road runs along the south side of Fall Creek until connecting with 22nd Street (now 30th Street). From there, the trip back to downtown Indianapolis uses the Allisonville Free Gravel Road, now known as Central Avenue and Fort Wayne Avenue, before ending at North and Pennsylvania Streets.

National Road Tidbits

Over the long history of what was the National Road, there are tons of stories told. Tales of lives, tolls, decisions, and other things that have been basically lost to history.

A brief history of the road screams to be told. President Thomas Jefferson signed the law creating the Cumberland, or National, Road on 29 March 1806. The commission that charted the road decided that Braddock’s Road would be followed from Cumberland, MD, to Brownsville, PA. Pennsylvania only approved the road if it would pass through Uniontown and Washington, PA. So, the road followed a native american trail from Brownsville to Washington. From there, the road was was to go to either Wheeling, VA (now WV) or Steubenville, OH. Wheeling won after some influence of Henry Clay.

It would not be until 3 March 1825 that the Congress gave the green light to extension of this road. Appropriations were outlaid to build the road to Zanesville, OH, and survey the route through the capital cities of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. By 1832, the National Road reached the Indiana-Ohio State Line. (An astute reader now asks the question why the National Road doesn’t connect to Springfield, IL. Well, the capital of Illinois at the time was Vandalia, which is one the National Road. Springfield became the capital in 1839.) Hence, the history of the building of the National Road…in shortcut fashion.

But local stories abound when it comes to the road. For instance, in Richmond, according to the Richmond Paladium-Item of 2 October 1910, “Main street turns near Ninth and makes a slight curve towards the northwest. One hundred years ago there was a large mud puddle north of Main street and when the National road was constructed the contractors built it around the puddle. Main street retained the curve.”

The National Road would also be the site of a County Seat War in Wayne County. Wayne County’s government had been located in Centerville since it was legally moved from Salisbury with an act of 21 December 1916. (The last meeting of county commissioners was held at Salisbury in August, 1817. [Indiana Boundaries: Territory, State and County, available on ancestry.com]) Later, a Wayne County courthouse was built in Richmond. Richmond officials went to Centerville to move the government. Centerville refused. The Richmond interests actually used cannon fire in the effort to move the county seat from Centerville to Richmond. According to the Plymouth Weekly Republican of 24 December 1874, the United States Supreme Court, with a unanimous decision, ended the county seat war in favor of Richmond. “The struggle between Richmond and Centerville has been protracted nearly two years.”

On 3 May 1919, the Indianapolis News published a story about the conditions and construction of the National Road through Indiana from the perspective of “caravans of motor lorries during war.” Very little of the old road was improved at the time of World War I. While most of the wartime traffic occurred by railroad, quite a bit went by truck. Very few roads at the time were improved, making travel no better than it had been for years. And, with the increase in truck traffic, the “Famous Old Highway Has Gone to Wreck – Miles of Hard Going Are to Be Found Along the Indiana Link of the Road Between Richmond and Terre Haute.”

The story of a couple of farmers in Wayne County is also worth mentioning. On the old road, west of Richmond, lived a man and woman “around which is woven one of the first romances of the National road in Indiana.” The story of their romance isn’t covered, being that it “does not concern us here.” Anyway, they bought a farm and became successful. However, a toll gate was built not far from their farm, requiring a toll to be paid to reach Richmond. They objected to this toll, to the point of building a road, on their property, around the toll gate.

With the National Road came the tavern. There were numerous taverns built along the way. Keep in mind that a tavern, at the time, included anything that a traveler needed to rest: food, drink, beds, and stables. One of the things reasons that US 40 is such a slow route across Indiana is the tavern. Towns sprung up around the tavern. Towns were placed at convenient intervals depending on the distance one could travel in a day. In the motoring era, these “convenient intervals” led to the motor hotel, or motel. In the four miles that I travel the National Road daily, from Cumberland to I-465, there are still three motel buildings in existence. I remember many more that have been demolished over the 50+ years that I have been alive.

In Indianapolis, the last vestiges of the National Road in downtown survived into the 20th century. Early in the century, the old National Road bridge, a covered bridge that originally carried the National Road over the White River, was finally removed. That bridge had been in place for over 70 years, although most traffic, at that point, had been using the Washington Street bridge. It wasn’t until the mid 1980s that the original road, called Washington Avenue, was removed. Today, a walking path has been built along the path of the old road.

Over the 180+ years of the National Road in Indiana, there have been many lives affected. Their stories are out there. I hope to find more of them in the future.