Indiana State Road 37

State Road 37
Route information
Maintained by INDOT
Length:	229.4 mi (369.2 km)
Southern Segment
Length:	215 mi[1] (346 km)
South end:	SR 66 in Tell City
Major junctions:	I-64 in St. Croix I-69 in Bloomington I-69 in Indianapolis I-74 / I-465 / US 36 / US 40 in Indianapolis I-69 in Indianapolis
North end:	SR 9 in Marion
Northern Segment
Length:	14.4 mi[2] (23.2 km)
South end:	I-469 / US 24 / US 30 in Fort Wayne
Major junctions:	SR 101 in Springfield Township
North end:	SR 2 in Scipio Township
Location
Counties:	Perry, Crawford, Orange, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, Johnson, Marion, Hamilton, Madison, Grant, Allen
Highway system
Indiana State Roads Interstates US State Former ← US 36 SR 38 →

State Road 37 (SR 37) is a major route in the U.S. state of Indiana, running as a four-lane divided highway for 110 miles of its course.

At one time, the route ran from the southwest corner of the state to the northeast corner. In the pre-Interstate Highway era, Indiana 37 was the most direct route between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. Interstate 69 has supplanted it as a through route, and State Road 37 now consists of two disconnected segments. The segment in northeastern Indiana runs from the Ohio state line to Interstate 469 near Fort Wayne. The other segment starts at Tell City on the Ohio River and ends in Marion in north central Indiana.

Route description

Southern segment

The southern section has its northern terminus just south of Marion at a junction with State Road 9. It runs south and southwest, passing near Elwood. From here it continues south to Noblesville where it becomes 4-lane divided highway. After this it merges with Interstate 69 near Fishers, joining Interstate 465 northeast of Indianapolis, running along the portion of I-465 concurrent with US 31, US 36, US 40, US 52, US 421, and SR 67 (from exits 42 to 46).

It then departs Interstate 465 on the south side of Indianapolis at Exit 4 where it is a 4-lane divided highway until its southern junction with IN-60 75 miles later. The road runs south and southwest through Martinsville, Bloomington, Bedford and Mitchell.

The next 45 mile segment is part of the above southern section but is a 2 lane rural route that has a lot less traffic. It begins in Orleans and runs through Paoli and the Hoosier National Forest. At English, it turns west along State Road 64 for about 8 miles (13 km) west before turning south at Eckerty (along the Frank O'Bannon Highway), meeting its southern terminus at the junction with State Road 66 on the Ohio River in Tell City.

Northern segment

The northern section begins at the Ohio state line near Harlan, where it continues east as State Route 2. Indiana 37 runs southwest approximately 20 miles (32 km) to end at a junction with Interstate 469 on the northeast side of Fort Wayne.

Future

Due to the fact that SR 37 is already a 4-lane limited access highway (although it is still well short of freeway standards as it contains many at-grade intersections, including 19 traffic lights) it will be upgraded with some work to become Interstate 69 from north of Victor Pike in Bloomington to the curve south of Epler Avenue in Indianapolis, where I-69 will run straight north to Interstate 465.^[3]

Frank O'Bannon Highway

In recent years, Indiana's official state highway maps have shown the 10-mile (16 km) extension of the Frank O'Bannon Highway (named for the late former governor) between Interstate 64 at St. Croix and Indiana 64 at Eckerty numbered as Indiana 145. However, when the extension opened in November 2007, the signs proved that the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) had a change of heart.

At I-64 Exit 79, where Indiana 37 once turned east and ran concurrent with the interstate for eight miles (13 km) before continuing its northern journey, the route now continues north approximately 10 miles (16 km) to Eckerty. At Eckerty, westbound Indiana 64 continues the new route to the northwest for a short distance (less than a mile) before meeting the existing Indiana 145, which continues north across Patoka Lake to French Lick. The new roadway thus creates a "straight shot" from Indiana 37's southern terminus at Tell City to French Lick, West Baden and the new casino. It also will reduce travel time for those traveling to Indianapolis.

History

Southern section

For its part, Indiana 37 now turns to the east and is concurrent with Indiana 64 from Eckerty to English, where it exits the eastbound highway and rejoins the old route. The old, winding stretch of 37 from I-64 at Exit 86 north to English has been renumbered as Indiana 237.

In the 1950s, Indiana 37 ran north of Bloomington on the roads now called Cascades Drive and Old 37 to the northern end of Monroe County. South of Bloomington, Indiana 37 followed Walnut Street Pike, Fairfax Road, Valley Mission Road, Guthrie Road, and Kentucky Hollow Road (Old 37) to Oolitic. These were replaced in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the straighter sections called College Avenue and Walnut Street north of Bloomington and the sections called Walnut Street and Old 37 (Kentucky Hollow Road) to Oolitic. As soon as the current 4-lane 37 was finished in 1976, a portion of Kentucky Hollow Road was abandoned north of Oolitic and a stone quarry that was alongside Indiana 37 for years consumed the road.^[4][5]

Indianapolis

SR 37s originally ended at the junction of SR 35 (SR 135) and US 31 at Meridian and South Streets in downtown. The route that became SR 37 was originally numbered SR 13 in Marion and most of Hamilton Counties. SR 13 began at Meridian and Michigan Streets, then the junction of US 31, SR 13 and SR 367.^[6]

SR 13 then followed Meridian St. (US 31) north to Fall Creek Parkway N. Drive, where it turned northeast. SR 13 then followed Fall Creek and Allisonville Road to Strawtown in Hamilton County, where what is now SR 37 was undesignated until 1940. In 1940, the portion from north of Strawtown to south of Elwood was made part of SR 13. From south of Elwood to Marion, the road that is now SR 37 was numbered SR 15.^[7] By 1945, the entire route described above became a continuation of SR 37 from the south side of Indianapolis. SR 37 was designated along Michigan St. (westbound) and Vermont St. (eastbound) from Meridian St to West Street (at the time US 36, SR 29 and SR 67). SR 37 then turned south on West Street, until it became Bluff Road, at which point it was already part of SR 37. (This also removed the Bluff Avenue section of SR 37 from the state road system, removing the connection with SR 135.)^[8]

In 1953, the state rerouted SR 37 to multiplex with US 36/SR 67 along 38th Street starting at Fall Creek Parkway.^[9] (This would be part of the route the road would following until decommissioning in 1999.) The three roads would be multiplexed from 38th and Fall Creek, to 38th and Northwestern Ave. (now Dr. MLK Jr. St.), then south along Northwestern Ave. and West St. until the above mentioned location at Michigan and West Streets.

In 1957, construction was started on the Noblesville Bypass of SR 37. This bypass was designed to go to the east side of Noblesville, through Fishers, and along a newly constructed road in Marion County to connect to Fall Creek Parkway just north of the then route of SR 37 (Allisonville Road).^[10] One of the "quirks" in the design of the new SR 37 was a five point intersection with SR 100, at the corner of Shadeland Road (now Avenue) and 82nd Street. By 1958, SR 37's Noblesville bypass was completed to the JCT SR 100 from the north. SR 37 then was rerouted along 82nd St to Allisonville, where it turned south to connect to Fall Creek Parkway has it had for the previous 35 years.^[11] By 1959, the new route was completed, with the Allisonville Road route renumbered SR 37A.^[12]

In the early to mid-1960s, two changes were made to SR 37. One which would eventually become part of I-69: interchanges were built at SR 100 and 116th St., as well as a connection to the under construction I-465. The second was the construction of an exit ramp (now Exit 4) on I-465 for the eventual construction of a Bluff Road bypass through southern Marion and northern Johnson Counties.^[13]

In 1967, there were two SR 37s on the south side of Indianapolis: one along Bluff Road, one along the Bluff Road bypass. The two did not directly connect to each other at all.^[14] By 1969, SR 37 was multiplexed with US 31 (along Meridian, North, Pennsylvania/Delaware, Madison and East Streets) to I-465/I-74 at what is now Exit 2. The route then was multiplexed with I-465/I-74 between Exits 2 and 4. This made the Bluff Road route abandoned in its connections to the state road system, so it was decommissioned. Some unofficial maps list Bluff Road as SR 37A for some time after this, although the state of Indiana never recognized it as such.^[15]

By 1972, I-69 was completed along the SR 37 corridor from I-465 to where it had ended to that point at the JCT SR 37 Noblesville bypass (now Exit 205).^[16]

SR 37 stayed pretty much the same until 1999 or 2000, when all state and US highway designations were completely removed from inside the I-465 loop. SR 37 was then officially rerouted along I-465 along the east and south sides of Indianapolis. The current exit for SR 37 from I-465 is Exit 37.

Northern section

In 1940, the section of SR 37 from its current northern junction with SR 13 to Marion (west of its current routing) was designated SR 15. Another section that was to become SR 37, from Fort Wayne northeast to the Ohio border, was already designated SR 14.^[7]

By 1945, SR 37 had been routed along its current route from Rigdon to south of Marion to the junction of SR 9.^[8] SR 37 was then multiplexed along SR 9 from that junction to Huntington, then with US 24 from Huntington to Fort Wayne. The state than moved SR 14 from what became SR 37 to what was SR 230.^[6]

By 1980, the official multiplex along SR 9 and US 24 was decommissioned^[17] (although there is a reference to SR 37 being multiplexed along I-69 around the west side of Fort Wayne in 1980, that reference is gone by 1982^[18]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[19]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Perry	Tell City	0.00	0.00		SR 66 south – Evansville, Tell City	Southern terminus of SR 37
	Troy Township				SR 237 south – Cannelton	northern terminus of the southern section of SR 237
	Anderson Township				SR 145 north – St. Meinrad	Southern terminus of SR 145
	Union Township				SR 70 east – Derby	Western terminus of SR 70
	St. Croix				SR 62 – Evansville, New Albany
					I-64 – St. Louis, Louisville
Crawford	Eckerty				SR 64 west – Huntingburg	Western end of SR 64 concurrency
	English				SR 64 east / SR 237 south – Sulphur, Georgetown	Eastern end of SR 64 concurrency; northern terminus of SR 237
Orange	Paoli				US 150 west / SR 56 west – Loogootee, Jasper	Western end of US 150 and SR 56 concurrency
					US 150 east / SR 56 east – New Albany, Salem	Eastern end of US 150 and SR 56 concurrency
	Orleans				SR 337 south	Northern terminus of SR 337
Lawrence	Mitchell				SR 60 east – Salem	Southern end of SR 60 concurrency
					SR 60 west – Georgia	Northern end of SR 60 concurrency
	Marion Township				US 50 west – Shoals, Washington, Vincennes	Southern end of US 50 concurrency
	Bedford				US 50 east / SR 450 to SR 158 – Bedford, Seymour	Northern end of US 50 concurrency
					SR 58 east – Columbus	Southern end of SR 58 concurrency
	Oolitic				SR 54 west / SR 58 west – Avoca	Eastern terminus of SR 54; northern end of SR 58 concurrency
Monroe	Bloomington				SR 45 south	Southern end of SR 45 concurrency (Interchange)
					SR 48 west	Eastern terminus of SR 48 (Interchange)
					SR 45 north / SR 46 – Spencer, Bloomington	Northern end of SR 45 concurrency (Interchange)
Morgan	Martinsville				SR 39 north – Martinsville	Southern terminus of SR 39 (Interchange)
					SR 252 east – Morgantown	Western terminus of SR 252
					SR 44 east – Franklin	Western terminus of SR 44
Johnson	Waverly	135.21	217.60		SR 144 west – Mooresville	Eastern terminus of SR 144
Marion	Indianapolis	145.10	233.52	4	I-74 west / I-465 west / US 36 west / US 40 west SR 67 south	Western end of I-74/I-465/US 36/US 40/SR 67 concurrency
				2	US 31 south – Greenwood	southern end of US 31 concurrency
				54	I-65 – Indianapolis, Gary, Louisville
				49	I-74 east / US 421 south – Cincinnati	Eastern end of I-74 concurrency; southern end of US 421 concurrency
				47	US 52 east – Cincinnati	Southern end of US 52 concurrency
				46	US 40 east – Dayton	Eastern end of US 40 concurrency
				44	I-70 – Indianapolis, St. Louis, Dayton, Columbus
	Lawrence			42	US 36 east / SR 67 north – Pendleton	Eastern end of US 36/SR 67 concurrency
	Indianapolis	165.69	266.65	37 200	I-69 / I-465 west US 31 north / US 52 west / US 421 north	Eastern end of I-465 concurrency; northern end of US 52/US 421 concurrency; southern terminus of I-69
Hamilton	Fishers	170.86	274.97	205	I-69 north – Fort Wayne	Northern end of I-69 concurrency
	Noblesville	175.04	281.70		SR 32 / SR 38 – Noblesville, Anderson, Pendleton
Madison	Jackson Township	186.76	300.56		SR 13 south – Lapel	Southern end of SR 13 concurrency
	Elwood	193.04	310.67		SR 13 north – Elwood	Northern end of SR 13 concurrency
		195.73	315.00		SR 28 – Tipton, Elwood, Albany
Grant	Hackleman	207.23	333.50		SR 26 – Lafayette, Hartford City, Portland
	Marion	211.77	340.81		US 35 / SR 22 – Kokomo, Gas City
		214.23	344.77		SR 9 – Marion, Anderson	Northern terminus of the southern section of SR 37
Gap in route
Allen	Fort Wayne	214.23	344.77		I-469 / US 24 / US 30 / Maysville Road – Fort Wayne, New Haven	southern terminus of the northern section of SR 37
	Springfield Township	230.16	370.41		SR 101 – Woodburn, Butler
	Scipio Township	234.37	377.18		SR 2 east – Hicksville, Bryan, Toledo	Ohio state line
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

External links

• Indiana Highway Ends - State Road 37