Progress continues on the city’s planned construction of a $30 million railroad overpass over the State Road 46 and State Road 11 crossing on Columbus’ west side, including completing acquisition of needed land for the project.
Dave Hayward, Columbus’ executive director of public works and city engineer, said the city has acquired all five parcels and the two billboards on the land, and crews are working already to relocate utility poles and other infrastructure along State Road 11.
Indiana Department of Transportation is scheduled to open bids for the project on Oct. 9, and construction could begin in late November or early December. Hayward said traffic may be driving on the new overpass by late summer or early fall of 2020.
“In just a little over two years we’ve gone from concept to ready for construction,” Hayward said.
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The new interchange will allow motorists to avoid being slowed or stopped because of increasing railroad traffic projected to occur on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad tracks.
The railroad has leased its tracks running through Columbus to CSX, resulting in an increase in train traffic, train speed and delays at intersections involving rail crossings through the city, with the State Road 46/State Road 11 expected to have the most delayed local traffic.
Louisville & Indiana Railroad and CSX Transportation won approval in April 2015 from the federal Surface Transportation Board to use L&I’s 106-mile mainline between Louisville and Indianapolis jointly and upgrade it from jointed steel rails to continuous welded ones.
The new rails allow heavier and faster trains to move through Columbus and other cities along the rail line, from Seymour to Indianapolis. The plan calls for CSX, which has invested $70 million to $90 million in improvements, to shift an estimated 13 to 15 trains per day to the L&I line, in addition to the L&I trains already using the line.
A 2016 study by Indianapolis engineering firm American Structurepoint Inc., commissioned by the city, indicates as many as 22 trains may travel through the State Road 46/State Road 11 intersection, and other Columbus downtown intersections with the railroad improvements.
The overpass project was developed as a collaboration between the city of Columbus and INDOT, who has agreed to pick up half of the total cost, along with other partners providing funding.
In a previous interview with The Republic, project manager and engineer Nick Batta said the vast majority of the construction will not interfere with traffic, because it’s being done on 50.1 acres of recently acquired undeveloped land. Batta works for Crawford, Murphy and Tilly — an Indianapolis-based engineering and consulting firm.
As a result, minimal traffic interruptions should be expected from now through the spring of 2020, he said.
But after that, commuters should be prepared for some traffic delays during construction.
Hayward said State Road 11 will be closed right after the schools let out for the summer in 2020, with traffic detoured on to Interstate 65. Crews plan to temporarily reopen the highway during next year’s Bartholomew County 4-H Fair.
Eastbound State Road 46 will have to be reduced to one lane in the early fall of 2020, while westbound Jonathan Moore Pike will be reduced to one lane in the late fall of next year, Batta said.
Overall completion of the overpass project is expected in mid-2021. Hayward said landscaping and other finishing work will continue through 2022.
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Under the current design, there will be three curved, cloverleaf-like ramps at the overpass planned for the intersection of State Road 46/State Road 11 on Columbus’ west side.
The first is for drivers who are traveling north on State Road 11 and wish to take State Road 46 West. These drivers would drive underneath the overpass and then turn right to take a curved entrance ramp to merge on to the overpass.
The second curved ramp is for drivers heading east on State Road 46 who wish to travel south on State Road 11. They would cross the overpass and then take an exit ramp — similar in shape to the Interstate 65 exit ramps in Edinburgh — that curves south like a cloverleaf until intersecting with State Road 11. There would be a traffic signal at the end of the ramp to enter State Road 11.
The third curved ramp would be for drivers who are heading west from downtown Columbus and wish to travel west on Jonathan Moore Pike (State Road 46). These drivers would use the left-hand lane to take a curved entrance ramp to merge on to the overpass.
More information is available online at columbusrailroadproject.org.
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