Interstate 70 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
I-70 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by INDOT | ||||
| Length | 156.60 mi[1] (252.02 km) | |||
| Existed | 1956 (completed in 1992)–present | |||
| NHS | Entire route | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   I-70 / US 40 at Illinois state line | |||
  US 41 / US 150 in Terre Haute   I-74 / I-465 in Indianapolis I-65 in Indianapolis I-465 in Indianapolis | ||||
| East end |  I-70 / US 35 at Ohio state line | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Indiana | |||
| Counties | Vigo, Clay, Putnam, Morgan, Hendricks, Marion, Hancock, Henry, Wayne | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
Interstate 70 (I-70) in the US state of Indiana travels east–west across the central portion of the state, passing through the capital of Indianapolis. I-70 crosses from Illinois into Indiana near Terre Haute and departs into Ohio at Richmond. It covers 156.6 miles (252.0 km) in Indiana, paralleling U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), the old National Road (except for the first approximately 11 miles (18 km) in which the two routes overlap).
Route description
The Indiana portion of I-70 begins at the Illinois state line west of Terre Haute. Heading east, I-70 crosses the Wabash River soon after entering the state. The Interstate crosses through the south side of Terre Haute, where it has an interchange with US 41/US 150. Just outside the city to the east, I-70 passes near Terre Haute Regional Airport, where US 40 leaves the Interstate before continuing onward to the east-northeast through rural lands toward Indianapolis. This stretch of I-70 does not have any interchanges with any significant cities until it reaches the Indianapolis metropolitan area, but it does pass within proximity of Greencastle.
Entering the Indianapolis area, I-70 passes through the southern reaches of Plainfield in Hendricks County, home to many logistics and warehousing companies. Shortly thereafter, it enters Marion County and the city of Indianapolis, passing just to the south of the Indianapolis International Airport, where the freeway now serves as the passenger terminal's main vehicular access point. At the far southeast corner of the airport, I-70 has an interchange with the I-465 circumferential for the first of two times at exit 73; however, motorists heading to the west or south legs of I-465 (or to the concurrent I-74) from eastbound I-70 must exit onto a parallel collector–distributor roadway nearly four miles (6.4 km) prior (at exit 69) to reaching the actual crossing of the beltway. Once beyond the airport, I-70 curves first to the northeast, then to the east, before eventually crossing the White River and passing just to the south of Lucas Oil Stadium, Downtown Indianapolis, and the corporate headquarters campus of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company before reaching I-65.
Turning north, the next section of I-70 along the east side of Downtown Indianapolis travels concurrent with I-65. The two major interchanges at either end of this concurrency are often referred to as the "North Split" and the "South Split", forming the eastern leg of a section of freeways and surface streets locally known as the "Inner Loop" (around the Indianapolis central business district as opposed to the "Outer Loop" of the I-465 beltway). The north split is also called the "Spaghetti Bowl" due to the visual complexity of the overlapping freeways, ghost ramps, and overpasses that were originally intended as a connection to a never-built portion of I-69. Access to I-69 requires using I-465. The "North Split" was closed for reconstruction in early 2021 and is expected to reopen to traffic in late 2022.[2] As part of that reconstruction, the old ramps are being replaced with ones that will eliminate the lane switching that drivers originally had to perform to stay on I-70 eastbound and I-65 northbound.[3]
Upon leaving I-65 at the north split, I-70 reaches a maximum width of 10 lanes (five in each direction) as it departs Downtown Indianapolis toward the east-northeast. On the east side of the city, I-70 again intersects with the I-465 beltway at another complex interchange before departing the city, county, and metro area in a nearly due-east direction toward Ohio.
The portion of I-70 east of Indianapolis has been designated as the "Anton Tony Hulman, Jr. Memorial Way". Tony Hulman is most known for rescuing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and making the Indianapolis 500 popular. This stretch of I-70 does not have any interchanges with any significant cities until it reaches Richmond, but it does pass within proximity of both Greenfield and New Castle. On the northwest side of Richmond, US 35 joins I-70 and remains on the freeway as both routes jointly cross into Ohio. It also has an interchange with US 27 providing access to Richmond south of the Interstate. On the east side of Richmond, US 40 intersects with I-70 immediately to the west of the Ohio state line.
History
Initial construction
Like all Interstate Highways in Indiana, I-70 was constructed in segments which, when all were complete, make up the route as it is today. There were three large segments in the western portion of the route between the Illinois border and I-465 in Indianapolis, and five more in the eastern portion connecting the east side of Indianapolis to Ohio. The urban portions through the capital city itself within I-465 were mostly deferred until the end of the Interstate construction process in the early to mid-1970s.[4]
The first section of I-70 to be built in Indiana was the portion around Richmond east of the Centerville exit, which opened to traffic on September 17, 1961. The final portion outside of I-465 to be completed was the middle of the three western segments, located between State Road 46 (SR 46) near Terre Haute and SR 59, which opened on October 20, 1969. Within I-465, the short section between Shadeland Avenue (then SR 100) and the I-465 interchange had opened along with the rest of I-70 from that point east to SR 9 near Greenfield on December 2, 1968. Another section of I-70 on the southwest side of Indianapolis between the I-465 beltway and Holt Road had been completed and opened by December 10, 1969.[4] But the remainder of the I-70 mileage through the heart of the city was not finished and open to traffic until October 1976.[5]
Subsequent improvements
Between 2003 and 2005, I-70 was rebuilt about 1,000 feet (300 m) south of its original alignment on the western edge of Indianapolis. This reconstruction was done to allow expansion of runways at Indianapolis International Airport and to facilitate development of access roads from I-70 to the site of the new midfield Col. H. Weir Cook Passenger Terminal Building (which opened in 2008) at the airport.[6]
Exit list
| County | Location | mi[7] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vigo | Sugar Creek Township | 0.00 | 0.00 |   I-70 west / US 40 west – Effingham, St. Louis | Illinois state line | |||
| 1.07 | 1.72 | 1 | National Road – West Terre Haute, Terre Haute | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||||
| 3.40 | 5.47 | 3 | Darwin Road – West Terre Haute | |||||
| Terre Haute | 6.84 | 11.01 | 7 | US 41 / US 150 – Terre Haute, Evansville | ||||
| 11.18 | 17.99 | 11 |     US 40 east / SR 46 east / SR 641 south – Terre Haute International Airport, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology | Eastern end of US 40 concurrency; western terminus of SR 46 | ||||
| Clay | Posey–Jackson township line | 22.57 | 36.32 | 23 |  SR 59 – Brazil, Linton | |||
| Putnam | Cloverdale Township | 37.09 | 59.69 | 37 |  SR 243 – Putnamville | |||
| Cloverdale | 41.11 | 66.16 | 41 |  US 231 – Cloverdale, Greencastle | ||||
| Morgan | Adams Township | 50.65 | 81.51 | 51 | County Road 1100 West | |||
| Hendricks | Liberty Township | 59.21 | 95.29 | 59 |  SR 39 – Belleville, Monrovia | |||
| Morgan |
No major junctions | |||||||
| Hendricks | Plainfield | 66.22 | 106.57 | 66 | Quaker Boulevard - Plainfield, Mooresville | Former SR 267 | ||
| 68.32 | 109.95 | 68 |  Ameriplex Parkway / Ronald Reagan Parkway – Indianapolis International Airport | Signed as exits 68A (south) and 68B (north) eastbound; airport access via Col. H. Weir Cook Memorial Drive (unsigned) | ||||
| Marion | Indianapolis | 72.75 | 117.08 | 69 73 | I-465 / I-74 / US 36 / US 40 – Peoria, Cincinnati | Signed as exit 69 eastbound and exits 73A (east/south) and 73B (west/north) westbound; exits 68 and 69 are connected to each other via collector/distributor lanes; I-465 exit 9 | ||
| 74.53 | 119.94 | 75 | Sam Jones Expressway to Raymond Street | Directional access (eastbound to eastbound and westbound to westbound) only; Raymond Street signed eastbound only | ||||
| 76.38 | 122.92 | 77 | Holt Road | |||||
| 78.42 | 126.20 | 78 | Harding Street | |||||
| 79.47 | 127.89 | 79A | West Street | Split diamond interchange for West Street (one way south) and Missouri Street (one way north) | ||||
| 80.01 | 128.76 | 79B | Illinois Street, McCarty Street | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only to Illinois Street; complete access to McCarty Street | ||||
| 80.72 | 129.91 | 80 |  I-65 south – Louisville | Western end of I-65 concurrency; I-65 exit 110B | ||||
| 80.77 | 129.99 | 110A | East Street | Exit number follows I-65; westbound exit only | ||||
| 81.51 | 131.18 | 111 | Washington Street | Exit number follows I-65; eastbound exit and westbound entrance (to collector/distributor) | ||||
| — |  I-65 north – Chicago | Eastern end of I-65 concurrency; eastbound exit and westbound left entrance; I-65 exit 112 | ||||||
| 81.01– 81.78 | 130.37– 131.61 | 83A | Michigan Street / Ohio Street / Fletcher Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance (via collector/distributor lanes) | ||||
| 82.20 | 132.29 | 83B | I-65 north – Chicago | Westbound exit and eastbound left entrance; I-65 exit 112 | ||||
| 84.33 | 135.72 | 85 | Rural Street south / Keystone Avenue north | Signed as exits 85A (south) and 85B (north) | ||||
| 86.20 | 138.73 | 87 | Emerson Avenue | |||||
| 88.47 | 142.38 | 89 | Shadeland Avenue | Connected to I-465 exit eastbound via collector-distributor lanes | ||||
| 89.04 | 143.30 | 90 | I-465 (US 31 / US 36 / US 52 / US 421 / SR 37 / SR 67) | Signed as exit 89 eastbound due to shared collector-distributor lanes | ||||
| 90.38 | 145.45 | 91 | Post Road | |||||
| Hancock | Mount Comfort | 95.61 | 153.87 | 96 | Mount Comfort Road | |||
| Greenfield | 103.31 | 166.26 | 104 |  SR 9 – Maxwell, Greenfield | ||||
| Henry | Wayne Township | 114.93 | 184.96 | 115 |  SR 109 – Wilkinson, Knightstown | |||
| Spiceland–Franklin township line | 122.68 | 197.43 | 123 |  SR 3 – New Castle, Spiceland | ||||
| Dudley Township | 130.62 | 210.21 | 131 | Wilbur Wright Road | ||||
| Wayne | Jackson–Harrison township line | 136.92 | 220.35 | 137 |  SR 1 – Hagerstown, Connersville, Cambridge City | |||
| Center Township | 144.88 | 233.16 | 145 | Centerville Road | ||||
| Richmond | 148.64– 148.74 | 239.21– 239.37 | 149 |    US 35 north to SR 38 – Muncie | Signed as exits 149A (east/south) and 149B (west/north); western end of US 35 concurrency; hybrid cloverleaf interchange, northbound Williamsburg Pike to I-70 west is a left-exit flyover | |||
| 150.67 | 242.48 | 151 |  US 27 (Chester Boulevard) – Winchester | |||||
| 152.24 | 245.01 | 153 |   SR 227 to SR 121 – Union City | |||||
| 155.56 | 250.35 | 156A | US 40 west (National Road) | |||||
| 156B | US 40 east – Lewisburg | Westbound exit leads to, and eastbound entrance comes from, Ohio | ||||||
| 156.60 | 252.02 |  I-70 east / US 35 south – Dayton, Columbus | Ohio state line | |||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- ↑ Federal Highway Administration (October 31, 2002). "FHWA Route Log and Finder List: Table 1". Retrieved February 24, 2009.
- ↑ "Schedule". North Split Upgrade. Indiana Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
- ↑ "Project Overview". North Split Upgrade. Indiana Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
- 1 2 Ripple, David Alan. "History of the Interstate System in Indiana", Purdue University, 1975.
- ↑ "'Under the Highway': How interstates divided Indianapolis neighborhoods and displaced 17,000 people". October 19, 2020.
- ↑ "Interstate Alignment Shifted To Allow Runway Expansion". Engineering News-Record. January 3, 2005. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
- ↑ Staff. "INDOT Roadway Referencing System" (PDF). Indiana Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2012.