Businesses, INDOT at odds over project

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The overpass at Allisonville Road and I-465 is now closed.

The project will completely close the bridge for 110 days while construction crews raise and widen the bridge.

But business owners in the area are concerned about the impact to their bottom line, and say they would prefer INDOT to repair the bridge one side at a time.

“Who knows what’s going to happen to business? Who knows, who can say that?” Derrick Filkins of FlyMasters asked. “We do know what would happen if we had partial closure. We would still at least have some traffic coming through.”

An INDOT representative said closing the bridge completely is safer for drivers and construction workers.

He said another option was to replace one side of the bridge at a time, but that would take too long.

“We will have construction complete before the Christmas and holiday shopping seasons,” Nathan Riggs with INDOT said. “The construction, if it were to drag on for two years, it’s likely that they would lose business that way as well.”

Over the 110 days of this project, crews will raise the bridge by 5 feet and widen it to eight lanes. A bike lane in each direction will also be added.

It’s estimated that 47,000 drivers pass through here each day.

Click here to see before and after images of the project.