Interstate 69 in Indiana - Route Description

Route Description

The original stretch of I-69 in Indiana begins with an interchange at the northeast corner of I-465, the Indianapolis outer beltway, where Binford Boulevard, a four-lane divided surface arterial that formerly carried SR 37 transitions into the I-69 freeway. Southbound at this junction, most I-69 motorists take exit 200 (former exit 0) to remain on a freeway and reach either I-465 south (with SR 37 south and the future extended I-69) or I-465 west. Running in a northeasterly direction and concurrent with SR 37, I-69 turns east-northeast at the end of that overlap just past mile marker 205 (formerly marker 5) in Fishers. From there, the freeway turns more easterly at the Campus Parkway/Southeastern Parkway (former Greenfield Avenue and SR 238) interchange until it reaches the Pendleton area.

After bypassing Pendleton to the west and north, SR 9 and SR 67 join I-69, which continues to the east-northeast into the Anderson area. There, SR 9 departs, and shortly thereafter I-69 begins two long curves to the northeast, and then the north. Between Daleville and Chesterfield, SR 67 departs I-69, bound for Muncie. From the Anderson–Muncie region, I-69 continues north, running concurrently with US 35 between SR 28 east of Alexandria and SR 22 near Gas City. After passing SR 18 east of Marion, I-69 then heads more northeast, straight toward the Fort Wayne metro area.

At the south junction of I-469, located at Lafayette Center Road near the General Motors truck assembly plant, US 24 and US 33 join I-69. US 24 remains cosigned with I-69 to the interchange at Jefferson Boulevard (originally known as Upper Huntington Road), even though it takes travelers on that route several miles out of their way. US 33 continues on north to the Goshen Road interchange near Coliseum Boulevard on the northwest side of Fort Wayne, where it departs I-69, US 30 joins, and the freeway curves more to the east once again. The next junction is the US 27/SR 3 interchange at Lima Road on the north side of Fort Wayne. From the mid-1960s to 2001, US 27 was rerouted onto a concurrency with I-69 from here north to the Michigan border, but the former route has since been truncated to this point. Past the next interchange at Coldwater Road, the original routing of US 27 north of town, the freeway curves back to a northerly heading. At the north junction of I-469, US 30 departs to the east and shortly thereafter I-69 leaves the Fort Wayne metro area.

I-69 then continues north, passing just to the west of Auburn, Waterloo, and Angola, before reaching the I-80/90 Indiana East–West Toll Road near Fremont. Shortly thereafter, the route crosses into Michigan at a point just northwest of Fremont.

The portion of I-69 between Indianapolis and the Toll Road was first proposed in the seminal report Interregional Highways, released in January 1944. By March 1946, it was formally made part of the new National System of Interstate Highways by the U.S. Public Roads Administration. In 1958, its first extension was approved. This took the route into Michigan in order to connect with I-94 near Marshall. It was extended yet again, north to Lansing in the 1960s, and then east—first to Flint and finally to the border with Canada at Port Huron, Michigan—in the 1980s. The extreme southern portion of I-69 from I-465 to central Indianapolis was never built, though unpaved ghost ramps and overpasses for its connection to I-65 and I-70 can still be seen at the North Split/Spaghetti Bowl interchange just northeast of downtown Indy.

Until recent years, all of I-69 in Indiana north of the Indianapolis metro area was four lanes, but INDOT has reconstructed and widened I-69 to six lanes through most of Fort Wayne. Likewise, INDOT has widened I-69 from I-465 on the northeast side of Indianapolis to SR 37 in Fishers from the original six lanes to seven and eight lanes during the first decade of the 2000s. A complete rebuild of most of this highly congested segment is hoped to be completed by 2015, with project plans calling for a total of 14 lanes (eight for the mainline and six in parallel collector-distributor lanes).