Ronald Reagan Parkway

We have been in Washington DC all week attending the mid-year convention of the National Association of Realtors.

Wednesday was spent on Capitol Hill visit with Senator Lugar and Congressmen Buyer, Burton and Pence.

While visiting Congressman Buyer's office I asked for an update on Ronald Regan Parkway. As a Hendricks County Resident I know the state just started work on the new interchange at I-74 and that Plainfiled is about to open several sections of the highway in that area. It looks like most of the links are moving forward other than the section that will go over the Avon Railroad yard.

Below is the update from Rep. Buyer's staff:

I understand that you had some questions about the current progress on the Ronald Reagan Parkway.

As you know, the RR Parkway project is of tremendous importance to Indiana in that it provides needed north-south movement of people and goods in the fast growing counties of Hendricks, Boone, and western Marion; the roadway will connect I-70 in the southern part of the county with I-74 in the northern part of the county.

In way of a status report, the environmental work has begun to further connect the project to I-65 in Boone, and the northern and southern sections of the project are underway or completed. Most notably, segments from US 36 north to CR 300N have completed construction. Provisions have been made for Avon, Brownsburg and Plainfield to expand their existing industrial parks to the corridor, providing access for truck traffic from these areas to the I-70, I-74 interchanges. Hendricks County has completed a number of segments along the parkway.

The middle section of the parkway remains to complete the corridor. The next phase to be tackled is the section from CR 100S to US 36 in Avon, which involves building a roadway over the CSX rail yard. Construction will take 1.5 to 2 ‘construction seasons' and will total a cost of estimated $11.5 million. This, in combination with a plan and construction for connecting up the southern segment of the project, remain to be done.

In the past, Congressman Buyer has assisted in getting a large amount of funds for the RR Parkway.

In FY 2002 Transportation Approps: $750,000

In FY 2004 Transportation/Treasury Approps: $850,000

And In FY 2005 Consolidated Approps: $850,000

I hope this has assisted in answering your questions and gives you an idea of the basic state of the project. I have CC'd Jim Huston, Congressman Buyer's District Director, who is a good source on this topic. If you have further questions please feel free to let Jim and/or myself know.

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