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Warm weather kicks off road construction season

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A major construction project on Interstate 65 from Franklin to Edinburgh began Monday night.

It’s just one of several planned for the season, which is beginning now that the weather is warming up.

The sound of an Indiana spring is more like bulldozers than chirping birds. Warm temperatures usher in new construction projects.

One that began Monday affects more than eight miles of interstate from the State Road 44 intersection at Franklin south to the Edinburgh exit at State Road 252.

“They’re redoing the shoulder area, so they’re going to be working and taking that lane that’s adjacent to the shoulder,” INDOT Spokesperson Harry Maginity said.

Maginity said resurfacing work will take place over a large area, so drivers should remain alert.

“The construction projects will move from place to place, so from day to day it’s going to be different type of restrictions,” he said.

But they’re not just resurfacing the road and fixing shoulders.

This project includes work on two bridges.

The bridge over Sugar Creek will be resurfaced and the structure of the Big Blue River bridge will be rebuilt.

Drivers should look out for major delays in those spots from this project, along with sporadic delays from other work on I-65.

“We’re going to be doing major patching, major repairs, and then resurfacing the highway and this is hit-and-miss all the way from Indianapolis’ south side to the river bridge in Louisville,” Maginity said.

While the summer travels south of Indy may take longer than usual, Maginity believes it will all pay off in the end.

“It’s going to be a summer where there are going to be a lot of lane closures but we look down the road a year from now and we’re all going to be so happy,” he said.

According to Maginity, at least $500 million are being poured into state road projects this year.

Another one is upgrading seven interchanges on I-465, including the interchange with I-70.

To see a list of INDOT projects, click here.