FORT WAYNE – The state will move forward with a new Interstate 69 interchange at Union Chapel Road after receiving approval from a local transportation planning agency.

The Urban Transportation Advisory Board on Tuesday unanimously supported the estimated $20 million construction project, which will be finished by fall of 2012.

The approval came with little discussion and no opposition for the project that has been publicly floated for months.

Parkview Health will contribute $10 million to the cost of the project and the state expects to get $8 million in federal money.

Parkview expects to open a new $536 million medical center just south of the proposed interchange in the spring of 2012.

This will add about 4,000 daily trips to an already congested Dupont Road interchange.

The board did not approve or discuss the style of interchange to be used at Union Chapel. Two different designs – a standard interchange and one with roundabouts – have been discussed.

Dan Avery, director of Northeast Indiana Regional Coordinating Council, said the plan is to complete the Union Chapel interchange before the state begins a $2.8 million revamp of the Dupont interchange.

The board also approved intersection improvement projects to Union Chapel and Auburn Road and Union Chapel and Diebold Road to help cope with expected increased traffic from the new interchange. The work will almost assuredly include traffic signals and added turn lanes, Avery said, but the plans are not completed.

That work is scheduled to be completed on the same schedule as the interchange, Avery said.

The Indiana Department of Transportation’s project update lists putting the Dupont interchange out for bids in November 2012. A public hearing on the Union Chapel interchange will be held early next year.

In the meantime, the state will construct an additional exit ramp lane on the Dupont interchange next spring. This work likely will take a few months.

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