AASHTO Journal, 5 February 2016
The company that operates the Indiana Toll Road on lease from the state said it plans to start a $200 million upgrade of 73 miles of the turnpike next month, in a project that will last through 2017.
The toll road runs along Interstates 80 and 90, and the Indiana Toll Road Concession Co. is calling this improvements program the “80/90 PUSH,” with the letters standing for “Pavement Upgrade for a Superior Highway.”
Gov. Mike Pence said this would be “the largest project on the Indiana Toll Road since its initial construction.” The ITR opened in 1956.
The project will cut away the asphalt pavement to the concrete beneath and then seal the concrete before layering five inches of asphalt back on top. That process is designed to reduce future pavement cracking. New asphalt will also be applied to roadway shoulders.
It will upgrade 53 bridges, some with new surfacing but others with full bridge deck replacement.
And the work includes installing a fiber optic line throughout, to allow the concessionaire to deploy various intelligent transportation systems in the future that would help it identify and respond to roadway conditions and provide real-time information to toll road users.
Both Pence and the ITR operator said the project will also boost the economy, with the company saying it would employ more than 300 people in peak construction times.