INDIANAPOLIS — On Tuesday, Aug. 6, the Interstate 69 interchange with Interstate 465 will officially open to traffic.
I-69 has been under construction since 2008. Crews have been working on the stretch between Martinsville and Indianapolis since 2020.
Gov. Eric Holcomb was joined by former governors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence for a ceremony called "Connecting the Crossroads."
This final stretch of the I-69 Finish Line project has added:
- Eight miles of extra lanes to I-465 in the area
- 26 miles of new interstate
- Dozens of new or rebuilt bridges
The I-69 southbound ramps to and from I-465 eastbound and westbound are scheduled to open to traffic Tuesday evening.
Then, I-69 northbound ramps to and from I-465 eastbound and westbound will open Friday, Aug. 9.
The new interchange at I-69 and I-465 consists of two flyover ramps just west of the existing State Road 37/Harding Street interchange. South of I-465, the newly constructed I-69 diverts from the current path of State Road 37 north of Edgewood Avenue From the interchange, I-69 will run concurrently with I-465 to the I-69 interchange on the northeast side of Indianapolis.
With the opening of the highway, I-69 is completed from the Canadian border in Michigan all the way south to Evansville.
Construction isn't finished — work will continue through the end of 2024 on the southwest side of Indianapolis. Once complete, an additional lane will be available for travel in both directions of I-465 between I-65 and I-70.
Almost 80 years of planning
While construction on I-69 didn't start until 2008, it had been in the works for 64 years at that point.
In 1944, a highway following the route of I-69 was part of a proposal to President Franklin Roosevelt titled "1944 Interregional Highways Report."
The route was eventually given the designation I-69, but work didn't really start until the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, better known as NAFTA.
After NAFTA was passed, the idea for I-69 became connecting free trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
In fact, I-69 is sometimes called the NAFTA Superhighway.
When it is finished, the highway will run from Port Huron in Michigan to Laredo in Texas.
But that could take some time. Congress mandated I-69 be built but didn't assign any extra funding to it. That means each state has had to figure out how to pay for their part of it independently.
The southern portion of the highway, in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas is mostly incomplete, with only sections near Houston and McAllen in Texas meeting interstate standards.
Right now, planning is underway for the bridge connecting Indiana's I-69 segment to the one in Kentucky.