Batesville Ramps Open Saturday; EB I-74 Lanes Open Wednesday

The exit and entrance ramps at Batesville have been closed for most of October.

(Batesville, Ind.) - The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to reopen eastbound Interstate 74 ramps at Exit 156 at Batesville this Saturday, October 27. Next Wednesday, October 31, NDOT will open newly constructed eastbound lanes of I-74 between Exit 143 and Exit 156.

Traffic flow along this 12.8-mile section of I-74 is being normalized as Phase II operations gear down for this $61 million pavement replacement project from New Point in Decatur County--through part of Franklin County—to State Road 101 in Ripley County.

The eastbound I-74 off- and on-ramps accessing State Road 229 at Batesville closed October 7 to facilitate mainline concrete paving operations at the exit. Once the concrete has cured and pavement markings are put in place, the ramps will reopen.  INDOT officials anticipate that will occur late in the day on Saturday.

Next Wednesday, weather permitting, the state hopes to return eastbound traffic—currently routed to a single lane on the westbound/north side of I-74—to two lanes on the eastbound/south side of I-74. Westbound traffic will be normalized to two lanes after concrete barrier wall sections have been removed from the construction zone.  

Next Friday (NOV 2), a tentative schedule calls for the reopening of eastbound I-74’s rest area. At the same time, the westbound rest will close for approximately 8 days while barrier wall is being removed from the project site.

Milestone is the prime contractor for this Next Level pavement replacement project. Its efforts will now focus on an embankment slide near Western Creek.  The company’s geohazard subcontractor will soon embed soil nails into bedrock, then affix a metal grid overcoated with shotcrete to form a stabilizing wall west of the creek.  This will require closing a short section of eastbound I-74’s right lane and outside shoulder area at mile marker 153.7. 

After 25 to 30 days of stabilization activities, all I-74 lanes will open for winter travel throughout the project site. This traffic pattern will remain in effect until Phase III operations to reconstruct I-74’s westbound/north side begin next spring.

Motorists can learn about highway work zones and other traffic alerts at indot.carsprogram.org, 1-800-261-ROAD (7623) or 511 from a mobile phone. For highway information, monitor social media sites: www.Facebook.com/INDOTSoutheast and Twitter @INDOTSoutheast.  Subscribe to receive text and email alerts at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/INDOT/subscriber/new.