Study Will Examine I-65/I-70 Options

A new study will examine the best options to rework a key piece of Indianapolis’ downtown Interstate System. 

Parts of the I-65/I-70 interchanges are decades old, crumbling and ill equipped to handle today’s traffic.

A $475,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment will help the Indy Chamber facilitate the study of the inner-loop.  Plans for the north split are already in progress.

The Chamber will work with the Rethink 65/70 Coalition to conduct the analysis.  

Chamber Chief Policy Officer Mark Fisher says downtown is the economic heart of Indianapolis and its arteries are vital.

"It is important that we continue to make it easy for a broad workforce watershed to be able to access the jobs downtown, but we also need to be thinking about how we build up the neighborhoods and communities in and around the downtown areas," says Fisher.

Fisher says the analysis will look at long-term solutions for the aging infrastructure.

"Really building out the cost estimates, looking at the environmental justice impact, looking at the land value recapture and economic development opportunities," says Fisher. 

The grant will enable the creation of private/public advisory council.