Residents learn more about I-65 work between Columbus and Seymour

Bartholomew County residents appear to have one major concern regarding the upcoming two-and-a-half year construction project on Interstate 65 between Columbus and Seymour, according to a local legislator.

“Will the lanes ever be reduced to one lane in either direction?” asked State Rep. Milo Smith, R-Columbus, during Wednesday’s public hearing on the project at Columbus City Hall.

After Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Rickie Clark replied he would have to research the answer, Smith pointed out that many manufacturers located in the Woodside Industrial Parks at the Walesboro-Ogilville Exit 64 operate three shifts.

“I don’t think my constituents would support that,” Smith said. “They have to go back and forth to work.  I’d like to have an answer as soon as possible.”

Woodside is at the north end of the 14.25-mile project.  During the construction period, crews will move south until the project ends at U.S. 50 in Seymour in 2020.

For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.