Interstate 70 in Indiana

This article is about the section of Interstate 70 in Indiana. For the entire route, see Interstate 70.

Interstate 70 marker

Interstate 70
Route information
Maintained by INDOT
Length: 156.60 mi[1] (252.02 km)
Existed: 1956 (completed in 1992) – present
Major junctions
West end: I-70 / US 40 at Illinois state line
  I-74 / I-465 in Indianapolis
I-65 in Indianapolis
I-465 / I-69 in Indianapolis
East end: I-70 / US 35 at Ohio state line
Highway system
SR 69SR 70

In the U.S. state of Indiana, Interstate 70 (I-70) travels east–west across 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 156.60 miles (252.02 km) in Indiana, paralleling U.S. Route 40 (US 40), the old National Road.

I-70 shield in the state of Indiana

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. US 40 travels concurrent with I-70 briefly before breaking off and traveling north of the interstate into the center of the city. 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 International Airport before continuing onward to the east-northeast through rural lands towards 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 4 miles prior (at Exit 69) to reaching the actual crossing of the beltway. Once beyond the airport, Interstate 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 before reaching I-65.

Westbound sign for the north split between I-65 and I-70

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 central business district of Indy, and 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. Upon leaving I-65 at the north split, I-70 reaches a maximum width of ten 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, made up the route we know 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.[2]

The first section of Interstate 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 SR 46 near Terre Haute and Indiana State Road 43, which opened on October 20, 1969. Within I-465, the short section between Shadeland Avenue (then Indiana State Road 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.[2] But the remainder of the I-70 mileage through the heart of the city was not finished and open to traffic until around 1974.

Subsequent Improvements

Realignment Near Indianapolis International Airport

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.[3]

Exit list

CountyLocationmi[4]kmExitDestinationsNotes
VigoSugar Creek Township0.000.00 I-70 west / US 40 west Effingham, St. LouisIllinois state line
1.071.721National RoadWest Terre Haute, Terre Hauteeastbound exit and westbound entrance
3.405.473Darwin Road West Terre Haute
Terre Haute6.8411.017 US 41 / US 150 Terre Haute, Evansville
11.1817.9911 US 40 east to SR 42 / SR 46 east Bloomington, Terre Haute, Riley, Terre Haute International AirportEastern end of US 40 concurrency; western terminus of SR 46
ClayPoseyJackson
township line
22.5736.3223 SR 59 Brazil, Linton
PutnamCloverdale Township37.0959.6937 SR 243 Putnamville
Cloverdale41.1166.1641 US 231 Cloverdale, Greencastle
MorganAdams Township50.6581.5151County Road 1100 West
HendricksLiberty Township59.2195.2959 SR 39 Belleville, Monrovia
Morgan
No major junctions
HendricksPlainfield66.22106.5766 SR 267 Plainfield, Mooresville
68.32109.9568Ameriplex 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)
MarionIndianapolis72.75117.0869-
73
I-74 / I-465 / US 36 / US 40Signed 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
74.53119.9475Sam Jones Expressway to Raymond StreetDirectional access (eastbound to eastbound and westbound to westbound) only; Raymond Street signed eastbound only
76.38122.9277Holt Road
78.42126.2078Harding Street
79.47127.8979AWest StreetSplit diamond interchange for West Street (one way south) and Missouri Street (one way north); ramps interlaced with some for Exit 79B
80.01128.7679BIllinois Street, McCarty StreetEastbound exit to Illinois and McCarty (via common distributor ramp); Westbound entrance from Capitol Avenue, exit to McCarty; complete entrance access from McCarty (at Madison Avenue)
80.72129.9180 I-65 south LouisvilleWestern end of I–65 concurrency (I-65 exit 110B)
80.77129.99110AEast StreetWestbound exit only
81.01130.3783AFletcher AvenueWestbound exit (from collector/distributor) to Fletcher; Eastbound left entrance (via Calvary Street)
81.51131.18111Washington StreetEastbound exit; Westbound entrance (to collector/distributor)
81.69131.4783AOhio StreetWestbound exit (from collector/distributor); Eastbound entry via Pine Street (at Michigan St)
81.78131.6183ANew York Street, Michigan StreetWestbound exit (from collector/distributor) via Davidson Street (at North Street); Eastbound entrance via Pine Street (at Michigan Street)
82.20132.2983B I-65 north ChicagoEastern end of I–65 concurrency (I-65 exit 112/112A); split entrance from Pine St (at Michigan Street) onto eastbound I-70 and left entry onto northbound I-65
84.33135.7285Rural Street south, Keystone Avenue northSigned as exits 85A (south) and 85B (north)
86.20138.7387Emerson Avenue
88.47142.3889Shadeland AvenueConnected to I-465 exit eastbound via collector-distributor lanes
89.04143.3090 I-465 / I-69 / US 31 / US 36 / US 52 / US 421 / SR 37 / SR 67Signed as exit 89 eastbound due to shared collector-distributor lanes
90.38145.4591Post Road
HancockMount Comfort95.61153.8796Mount Comfort Road
Greenfield103.31166.26104 SR 9 Maxwell, Greenfield
HenryWayne Township114.93184.96115 SR 109 Wilkinson, Knightstown
SpicelandFranklin
township line
122.68197.43123 SR 3 New Castle, Spiceland
Dudley Township130.62210.21131Wilbur Wright Road
WayneJacksonHarrison
township line
136.92220.35137 SR 1 Hagerstown, Connersville, Cambridge City
Center Township144.88233.16145Centerville Road
Richmond148.64–
148.74
239.21–
239.37
149 US 35 north to SR 38 / Williamsburg Pike MuncieSigned as exits 149A (east/south) and 149B (west/north); western end of US 35 concurrency
150.67242.48151 US 27 (Chester Boulevard) Winchester
152.24245.01153 SR 227 Union City
155.56250.35156 US 40 (National Road) LewisburgSigned as exits 156A (west) and 156B (east)
156.60252.02 I-70 / US 35 Dayton, ColumbusOhio state line
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. Federal Highway Administration (2002-10-31). "FHWA Route Log and Finder List: Table 1". Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  2. 1 2 Ripple, David Alan. "History of the Interstate System in Indiana", Purdue University, 1975.
  3. "Interstate Alignment Shifted To Allow Runway Expansion". Engineering News-Record. 3 January 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  4. Staff. "INDOT Roadway Referencing System" (PDF). Indiana Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 15, 2012.

Route map: Bing / Google

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Interstate 70
Previous state:
Illinois
Indiana Next state:
Ohio
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