The Indiana Department of Transportation will begin a series of 20-minute closures of State Road 11 on the north side of Garden City as work continues to create an overpass over the Louisville & Indiana railroad tracks on Columbus’ west side.
During the last four days of April, motorists should expect a series of 20-minute closures along State Road 11, said Dave Hayward, Columbus executive director of public works and city engineer.
The series of closures, from April 27 through April 30, are necessary to install bridge beams for the new overpass, Hayward said.
“Crews cannot set up beams while traffic is moving underneath,” said Hayward, who also reported that work on the overpass is progressing faster than expected.
The contractor plans to move beams into place while intermittently allowing backed-up traffic to move through, he said.
With business traffic reduced and school traffic essentially non-existent due to the COVID-19 CRISIS, Hayward said he doesn’t expect short-term closures to inconvenience as many motorists as it might under normal circumstances.
A quarter-mile stretch of State Road 11, between Jonathan Moore Pike and Garden City, will be closed during the entire month of June, according to INDOT. The four-week closure will allow crews to carry out road work on the $35 million railroad overpass project, INDOT officials said.
State Road 11 is expected to be reopened about a week-and-a-half before opening day of the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair, which runs from July 10 to 18. But one day after the fair closes, crews will shut down the highway again — this time in a rural area north of the Jackson-Bartholomew county line.
The second closure of State Road 11, which will take place about a mile-and-a-half north of Jonesville, is necessary for the replacement of a culvert and possibly a small bridge, Bartholomew County commissioner Carl Lienhoop said. That section of highway will be off-limits for about two-and-a-half weeks from July 19 through Aug. 5, he said.
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For an update on the railroad overpass project, including more photos, see Saturday’s print Republic edition or visit therepublic.com.
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