CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — The Indiana Department of Transportation on Thursday shared its plans for a major overhaul to the I-465 interchange at U.S. 31/Meridian Street in Carmel.

The project is called Level Up 31.

Kyleigh Cramer, a spokesperson for INDOT, says merging to and from the interchange can be dangerous. “We’re looking at the crashes that have happened in that area. We’re looking at backups and congestion, all of that, all those big safety issues.”

In December 2015, INDOT basically finished converting U.S. 31 into a freeway for faster Hamilton County access to and from Indianapolis. By 2025, almost 105,000 vehicles per day are expected to travel U.S. 31 in both directions at the I-465 interchange. That number will grow to 160,000 by 2045.

Cramer said, “The reason that we’re coming in here and doing Level Up 31 sooner than most people probably expected us to is because we’re seeing such a population growth. We are seeing more congestion, more unsafe lane movements.”

According to INDOT, since 2015, Carmel’s population has increased 12.8%, and Westfield’s population has increased 59.3%.

The Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business says Hamilton County in 2020 had 347,467 residents, and that total will increase more than 180,500 by 2050. Within the next 30 years, Hamilton County will likely become Indiana’s second-largest county, overtaking Gary and Lake County, and Fort Wayne and Allen County.

INDOT’s project calls for adding a lane on I-465 eastbound to U.S. 31 northbound, and another lane from I-465 westbound to U.S. 31 northbound, plus an access lane to 106th Street just north of the interchange.

Indianapolis resident Dan Dameron says merging off I-465 to U.S. 31 can be confusing. “They need to straighten out some of the signs on 465 because some of the truckers have a hard time. They get up to it and they say, ‘Oh, are we going to Kokomo or Westfield or to Meridian?’”

La Porte County resident Jay Seaburg uses U.S. 31 a lot to commute from northern Indiana to Indianapolis for doctor’s appointments, and deals with his fare share of traffic. “Especially with the increased development, the increased economic growth in Hamilton County.”

Thursday night’s public meeting was at the Drury Plaza Hotel just north of 96th Street on U.S. 31/Meridian Street. Another public meeting will be scheduled for the winter. INDOT hopes to start construction in the fall or summer of 2025. The target completion date is late 2027.