State police conduct slowdowns on I-69 amid pothole dangers
PENDLETON, Ind. (WISH) — Interstate 69 has been a pothole nightmare for drivers in Madison County.
The Indiana Department of Transportation has closed down parts of the road, as crews fill potholes.
State police have initiated what they call a slowdown, to lessen the impact of the potholes and the crews.
Master Trooper Ron Huff with ISP is one of 11 officers who conducted slowdowns on Thursday.
“We’re going to jump in front of them and we’re going to bring everybody down to about 45 mph,” said Huff.
Huff could not quantify exactly how many drivers were impacted, but said they had at least 30 drivers with flat tires in a one-hour span Thursday morning.
Linda Hedrick of Auburn is one of them. She got a flat tire as she was traveling toward Plainfield.
“It was just this big jolt. I didn’t see it. It was raining really hard at the time,” said Hedrick.
State police said they will conduct slowdowns as long as needed. They started on Wednesday and continued throughout Thursday.
In addition, INDOT is using a temporary formula to patch the craters in time for rush hour Friday morning. This weekend, they’ll use a more permanent mixture to fill them again. Representatives with INDOT say they’ll repave the road this summer.
INDOT said Thursday it would be closing the right lane of I-69 south first to patch from mile marker 227-219. Next they’ll close the left lane of the same stretch of road.
Thursday overnight, INDOT says it will close the right lane of I-69 north first and then the left from mile marker 228-231.