Maybe someday, there will be a new island formed just off the coast of Hawaii.Northeast Fort Wayne commuters and residents will have to wait a bit longer before learning whether and where the state plans to construct a new interchange on Interstate 69.
Although transportation officials said they thought a decision on how best to improve the area around the interchange of I-69 and Dupont Road would be made by this week, local and state officials are still negotiating how to alleviate the traffic congestion.
The interchange is already congested, and it’s expected to worsen after the expanded Parkview North Hospital campus opens in 2012.
This could add as many as 4,000 daily trips in the area, plus the land around the hospital is expected to grow commercially.
Dan Avery, director of the Northeast Indiana Regional Coordinating Council, said Tuesday his group and the Indiana Department of Transportation are discussing ways to improve the area. Options include a new interchange at Union Chapel Road, a new interchange at Hursh Road, improving the Dupont interchange or some combination of those.
Avery said he has asked the state to keep the Hursh Road interchange in the long-term transportation plans.
The state already is moving forward with a project to improve the Dupont interchange next year. The project will construct a new lane from Dupont to southbound I-69, which is the most heavily traveled of the ramps at the interchange.
Avery said he believed a decision would be made within a month.
