INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — It is a traffic delay southeast-siders know all too well, only this time Indiana Department of Transportation shut down the northbound lanes of I-465 from I-65 to I-70 for standard maintenance repairs.

The northbound entrance ramps were closed Friday night.

The shutdown will last 23 days or about three weeks as crews make repairs to the potholes and other issues with road joints. INDOT plans to reopen the interstate by 6 a.m. Aug. 5.

The official detour for the I-465 northbound shutdown is I-65 northbound to I-70 eastbound and back to I-465 northbound.

I-465 southbound reopened June 22 after it was shut down for repairs that took about 20 days.

Affected drivers know the work is necessary but say it causes major headaches. Spencer Deaton, an Indianapolis driver, was getting gas when he told News 8 that the traffic delays are affecting his landscaping work.

“(We) do a lot of landscaping stuff, and a lot of it’s on different sides of town from where we live, and, first of all, the traffic is awful because all these interstate shutdowns and stuff, and it’s rerouting you all over the place. And so it’s very unfortunate and kind of a tax on us getting to these different places, and so when we tell our client we will be there at a certain time it’s just way different because everywhere is shut down.”

Deaton’s partner Max Puntillo is hoping for an end to the constant stream of projects. “I feel like it changes so often, like, I feel like there’s always something new going on or something’s changed or something else is shut down, so I really wish they would finish up.”

Another Indianapolis driver, Scott Thomas said he takes the grin-and-bear-it approach. “When they had that shut down then (for southbound lanes) everybody took (Interstate) 70, and there was a constant traffic jam from about 2:30 to about 6:30.”

INDOT’s maintenance work won’t change the way I-465 looks or functions, but it’s necessary because the road is heavily trafficked.

Kyleigh Cramer, an INDOT public relations manager, said, “This is just what comes with having the four seasons in the state of Indiana and also the weight that 465 receives. We are The Crossroads of America, so we do receive a lot of commuters and lots of goods and services being transferred.”

INDOT said the work could have taken all summer if crews attempted to do it one lane at a time. With the shutdowns, the work will be done with just the two three-week long shutdowns. The closings also mean work crews are separated from cars going at highway speeds.

Cramer said of the workers, “They felt safe being behind barriers and maybe median walls instead of having one to two lanes open at a time, and still have people fly through at 60-plus mph.”

While I-465 northbound is closed from I-65 to I-70, INDOT notes that work will continue on the northeast side of Indianapolis on I-465 northbound from I-70 to Pendleton Pike/State Road 67/U.S. 36. That stretch will have two lanes open on weekends, and three lanes open on weekdays.

News 8’s Gregg Montgomery contributed to this story.