I hadn’t been writing my local Fishers news blog long when the three Hamilton County Commissioners entered a conference room to brief local officials about an idea to alleviate the crushing rush hour traffic tie-ups on State Road 37.  The idea was to design the highway much like Keystone Avenue in Carmel….roundabouts for east-west thoroughfares and underpasses for the north-south highway.

Those in the room years ago agreed this needed to be done, but SR 37 is a state road, so state officials would need to be persuaded.  It took years and Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt said he had made “thousands of phone calls” and attended “hundreds of meetings” before this project was finally funded and approved at the state level.

Monday morning, many prominent Hamilton County officials were on hand for the ground breaking ceremony at the southwest corner of State Road 37, on the grounds of Lockhart Cadillac.  The only person key to the project not at the ceremony was Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, who was under the weather.

Fishers City Council President Rich Block filled-in for Mayor Fadness, praising the many governments coming together to make this project happen.

“While major road construction isn’t easy on any of us, the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience,” Block said prior to breaking ground.  “At the end of this project, we’ll have a major thoroughfare that allows for safer pedestrian access, enhanced access to business and will alleviate the congestion we see here on nearly a daily basis.”

“We’ll get through this (construction period) and when it’s done, it’ll be a transformational project that will change the whole east side of Hamilton County,” said Heirbrandt.

Fishers City Engineer Jason Taylor tells LarryInFishers that motorists will only deal with lane restrictions in the area of 126th Street and SR 37 for the remainder of 2019.  Sometime in 2020, east-west traffic will be blocked along 126th Street at SR 37.  This part of the construction is scheduled to be complete in winter of 2020, with an east-west roundabout in an overpass at the highway and an underpass in place for north-south traffic.

Here is the remaining construction schedule, per the City of Fishers:

• 146th Street: begin Spring 2020, complete Winter 2021
• 131st and 135th Streets: begin Fall 2020, complete Fall/Winter 2021/22
• 141st Street: begin Spring 2021, complete Fall/Winter 2021/22

The City of Fishers, under an agreement with state officials, will manage the construction.  Roundabouts are to be constructed for east-west traffic on 131st & 141st streets, and traffic signals will be installed on 146th Street overpass.

Part of the money funding this plan will go to a marketing plan named 37Thrives, assisting businesses along the construction area while the work is underway.

“We have been actively participating in the 37Thrives Business Stakeholder Group for the past 14 months, “ said Lindsay Walters, Vice President, Lockhart Cadillac.  “With any large project like this, you face anxiety as a business owner.  The direct connection to information and collaboration through 37Thrives helps us minimize that and pro-actively plan ahead.”