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Construction work is nearly complete on a roundabout interchange at East 146th Street and Allisonville Road, but drivers can expect more construction in the coming years at three more busy intersections to the west in Hamilton County.
Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger provided updates last week at his State of the County address about several road and construction projects that the county is overseeing.
Once work at the intersection at East 146th and Allisonville is completed, Dillinger said the plan is to build similar grade-separated roundabout interchanges at the intersections of East 146th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway, East 146th Street and Gray Road, and East 146th Street and Carey Road.
“The Sheriff’s Department tells us that 146th and Hazel Dell, 146th and Gray Road and 146th and Carey Road are three of the most dangerous intersections in the county, so we have to do something with them,” Dillinger said. “Each of the other intersections will be alike when we move west.”
Construction started in the spring of 2023 on a $44 million roundabout interchange at East 146th and Allisonville. The project, which is expected to be finished this fall, has created a roundabout on Allisonville, with 146th converted to an overpass.
The next project on the list will be at East 146th and Hazel Dell, which will convert the current four-way intersection to a split-level roundabout interchange. The county expects the $37.8 million project will begin next summer and end in fall 2028. The projects at East 146th and Gray and East 146th and Carey would follow over the next decade.
Elsewhere in the county, Dillinger said the new interchange at State Road 37 and East 141st Street is expected to be ready next spring, completing the southern portion of the S.R. 37 project to remove traffic lights and turn the roadway into a free-flowing highway.
The Indiana Department of Transportation and the city of Noblesville are in the early stages of preparing to overhaul four intersections to the north along a 2-mile stretch of S.R. 37 at Greenfield Avenue, Town and Country Boulevard, Pleasant Street and State Road 32/38.
Turning to building projects, Dillinger said a $65 million project to expand the Hamilton County Judicial Center is expected to begin this fall. Up to eight new courtrooms will be added to the judicial center at 1 N. 8th St. in Noblesville.
Also, Dillinger said the first phase of a renovation work at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds in Noblesville is ongoing.
In the first phase of the three-phase, $65 million project, the former O.V. Winks and Annex buildings were demolished to make way for Noblesville’s Pleasant Street project. A new Bicentennial Pavilion is expected to open later this year, and the llama barn added a new warming station, restrooms and upgraded air movement system. New flooring and visual equipment were also installed in the Exhibition Hall.
Dillinger added that a new headquarters is expected to be built for Hamilton County Parks within Morse Park in Noblesville. The project is in the preliminary stages, and it will replace the current bathhouse along Morse Reservoir.
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Great to see Hamilton County and its communities continuing to invest big in needed infrastructure projects!
I would like to see an additional roundabout interchange at 146th and River Rd. Convert Community Dr. to right in/right out and try to tie into River Road via some type of access road network. Figure out a solution to enable removing the light at Cherry Tree Rd. This would create a free flowing roadway between SR 37 and almost US 31.
I’d also encourage the county to replace the current stoplights at 146th and Spring Mill Rd, Oak Ridge Rd., and Rohrer Rd. with at grade roundabouts.
Obviously Aaron, you don’t live along 146th. Up until 5 years ago, Community/Oxfordshire didn’t even have a stoplight. The overpass/roundabout STILL under construction at Allisonville has been a nightmare. There has been no left turn coming north on Allisonville for YEARS until a couple of weeks ago. A ONE grade level roundabout at Hazel Dell makes sense, but not another OVERPASS! Then GRAY road only a mile away to the west. Besides being overkill and excessive expense it’s not needed. Then, another mile down the road…..another ridiculous construction project. The Carey intersection ‘might’ benefit from a single grade roundabout. Way too much in a concentrated area with negative effects over a 6 mile strip. Total overkill and disruption.
I too am frustrated by the ever lengthening timelines of these projects and thinks there needs to be a bigger focus on getting them done faster.
However, these are needed project. Having studied similar places to Hamilton County, what you discover is that the worst congestion ends up happening on the “crosstown” routes. There are multiple north-south freeways in Hamilton County (US 31/Keystone and I-69/SR 37 once 37 is upgraded all the way to Noblesville), but there are no east-west freeways.
Unfortunately, there was no right of way preserved to built one. It would have to pass far to the north and loop between Cicero and Arcadia. I actually do believe Hamilton County should preemptively preserve that corridor to allow for a future route, particularly since 236th St through downtown Cicero can’t be widened. But that wouldn’t be a needed roadway for sometime, and won’t serve the critical central Hamilton County area.
The county is now doing the next best thing, which is upgrading 146th as much as it can. If this isn’t done, there will be major congestion issues in the future as our region continues to grow.
Explain it to me like I’m 5….
Why can’t Hazel Dell& 146 be like all the other roundabouts on Hazel Dell?
Are we trying to spend money like it’s going out of style and ignore constituents?
Or is this just plain ole helping a buddy keep people employed for years while they barely do the work they’re supposed to?
This HamCo resident would really like to understand why…
The volume of traffic that comes from both directions easily outpaces the other roundabouts on Hazel Dell. Plus, we aren’t really talking about what we need for today, but also for tomorrow where more and more construction is taking place up both Hazel Dell and Gray.
I think I take a sick amount of pleasure in watching people complain about roundabouts on Facebook and comment boards like this. There could be some overpay in some cases, but ultimately it is an investment in having a city that does not live in total gridlock due to the amount of growth that has taken place. I guess I’m not a fan of self-important morons trying to take my front end off flying into a roundabout, but I guess that’s a trade off from having to watch 3 people stare at each other at a 4-way stop for 15-20 seconds all waving each other on with nobody moving.
Just 2 days ago a woman in an Infiniti SUV absolutely cooked at 50mph+ the 4-way stop at 191st and Gray in front of me. If I had pulled out (absolutely could have happened as I was the only one at the intersection)… pretty sure she would have killed everyone in our car.
You probably read about the problems at the 96th and Allisonville roundabout in Fishers. This is because both roads have high levels of traffic. At some point, roundabouts no longer function well with too many cars.
With 146th and Allisonville, 146th St. through traffic goes over the roundabout on a bridge – so it doesn’t clog up the roundabout. Only traffic on Allisonville, and heading to and from Allisonville, has to go through the roundabout.
The other intersections like 146th and Hazeldell will be the same way. This will make 146th start to function a bit like an east-west version of Keystone Parkway (except that there will still be driveways and some cross traffic still allowed).