Indiana DOT advertises several "Accelerate 465" contracts

In an early sign of Major Moves money filtering into construction, Indiana DOT has just advertised the first two contracts for Accelerate 465, its campaign to reconstruct and widen eleven miles of the western leg of the I-465 Indianapolis beltway between SR 67 and 56th Street. In terms of system interchanges, the project extends from south of I-70 to south of I-65 and includes I-465's interchanges with I-70 and I-74, but not with I-65.

This length of I-465 has three through lanes in each direction, and in 2003 four through lanes with an auxiliary lane was described as the minimum cross-section which would allow level-of-service D (Indiana DOT's minimum acceptable LOS for urban freeways) to be maintained in the design year. The recently advertised contracts cover the portion from I-74 to I-65 but do not include the I-74 interchange itself, and provide for a cross section consisting of four through lanes and two auxiliary lanes.

Bids were initially scheduled to be opened on the first contract, 29153, on April 18, but bid opening has been postponed until today. 29153 provides for the replacement of bridges over I-465 at 34th and 46th Streets. In the past week, Indiana DOT has advertised the second contract, 29137, which includes the reconstruction and widening of mainline I-465 and improvements to the 38th Street interchange, including replacement of the bridge carrying 38th over I-465. 29137 is currently scheduled to have its bid opening on May 16, 2007.

Accelerate 465 is the value-engineered successor to Indiana DOT's Indianapolis West Side Corridor project. FHWA issued its FONSI on this project on June 27, 2003, and construction was originally scheduled to begin in 2005/06. In spite of the value engineering recommendations, which HNTB--as Indiana DOT's project manager for this corridor--claims has reduced the overall cost from $800 million to $518 million, some aspects of the project have become more elaborate. A case in point is the expansion of braiding between I-70 and SR 67, which can be seen by comparing the old West Side map with the current Accelerate465 map.



The cost of construction and preliminary right-of-way for the overall project is now quoted as $400 million (the Accelerate465 website doesn't explain how this relates to the $518 million outcome of the value engineering process; however, perhaps not coincidentally, the old West Side Corridor website also quotes $400 million for construction and preliminary right-of-way).

According to the Accelerate465 website, construction is now scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2007 and to continue until 2014. The two contracts just advertised are described as small advance work and, although there is clearly nothing trivial about widening three through lanes to four with two auxiliary lanes, they are considerably less elaborate than the interchange projects which will come in the future.

Accelerate465 has its own logo, which so far has appeared on its website and on the title sheet for contract 29137. If the project plans are to be believed, it will also be mounted on top of the black-on-orange advanced detour signs which warn motorists that there will be congestion as part of the I-465 reconstruction and widening. Though it is somewhat twee, it accomplishes the basic job of branding: