FISHERS, Ind. – The construction on State Road 37 in Fishers is on its way to completion, but there are new delays.
City leaders say there will not be any further delays with the project itself, just new delays with the construction bidding process.
For some, the seemingly constant construction in Fishers is frustrating. But for others, the short-term sacrifices will be worth it.
“I know it’s a pain in the butt for everyone to deal with but at the end of the day, I think it will make traveling on State Road 37 that much easier to get to where we need to be,” Derek Menendez, a Fishers resident, said.
The State Road 37 project has been in the works for several years now. Construction workers are upgrading several intersections, and the final upgrades will be at the intersection on 141st Street.
“This is a really unique opportunity where the city of Fishers, INDOT, and the county all joined forces to make sure we could get this key corridor in our community under construction, so we can alleviate some of the pressure on traffic we are seeing with the growth of Fishers and Noblesville over the last decade or so,” said Ashley Elrod, the Community and PR director for the city of Fishers.
The entire project focused on changes to the intersections at State Road 37 and 126th Street, 131st Street, 141st Street, and 145th Street. The only part of the project that is not yet complete is the intersection at State Road 37 and 141st Street.
This is an aerial view of the completed intersection at State Road 37 and 126th Street, which is what the intersection at 141st Street will look like by next year.
But before they get there, city leaders say the cost of construction and labor is going up because of all the projects happening around central Indiana.
“There are a lot of projects going out to bid this summer,” Elrod said. “When you look at that and take in market considerations, it’s usually not best to put a project out to bid when there’s a ton of work, so we are holding that just to wait until it’s closer to that [2024] construction season so we don’t have to compete with some of the larger projects which inflates costs, particularly labor costs.”
The higher costs are leading the city to delay bidding on the 141st Street construction for six months.
“The numbers were just really inflated to what our estimates are and we are pretty confident in our estimates, so we feel like being good stewards of that taxpayer dollars means sometimes shifting our original plan, and that’s what you are seeing with the delay in bidding,” Elrod said.
And Fishers’ residents like Menendez feel as long as the quality of the project is not being sacrificed, the wait for more reasonable prices is well worth the wait.
“Obviously we want quality work, but if they’re not going to sacrifice on quality, I am all for them trying to find and trying to save money where they can,” Menendez said.
The construction on 141st Street is expected to be underway in summer 2024. This comes after a delay in the original start date of summer 2023 announced late last year.
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