Interstate 70 in Indiana

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
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
Counties	Vigo, Clay, Putnam, Morgan, Hendricks, Marion, Hancock, Henry, Wayne
Highway system

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.

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 Regional 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.

Interstate 70 sign outside of Indianapolis International Airport

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.

I-70 shield near Richmond

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.[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

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

County	Location	mi[4]	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
	Terre Haute	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
Putnam	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	SR 267 – Plainfield, Mooresville
Hendricks	Plainfield	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); ramps interlaced with some for Exit 79B
		80.01	128.76	79B	Illinois Street, McCarty Street	Eastbound 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)
		80.72	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 left exit and westbound left entrance; I-65 exit 112A
		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
Hancock	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 / Williamsburg Pike/Tom Raper Way – 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 – Union City
		155.56	250.35	156A	US 40 west (National Road)
		155.56	250.35	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 Concurrency terminus Incomplete access

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References

Federal Highway Administration (2002-10-31). "FHWA Route Log and Finder List: Table 1". Retrieved 2009-02-24.
Ripple, David Alan. "History of the Interstate System in Indiana", Purdue University, 1975.
"Interstate Alignment Shifted To Allow Runway Expansion". Engineering News-Record. 3 January 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
Staff. "INDOT Roadway Referencing System" (PDF). Indiana Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2012.

External links

Indiana Highway Ends: Interstate 70

Interstate 70
Previous state: Illinois	Indiana	Next state: Ohio

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[fhwa-1] Federal Highway Administration (2002-10-31). "FHWA Route Log and Finder List: Table 1". Retrieved 2009-02-24.

[Ripple1975-2] 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.

[indot-4] Staff. "INDOT Roadway Referencing System" (PDF). Indiana Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2012.