HANCOCK COUNTY — Kali Cooper gets text alerts on her phone whenever there’s an accident or other type of road closure in Hancock County.
The alerts have been pinging practically every day, she said.
“Since the beginning of June I have a text every few days saying I-70 is shut down from an accident. It’s just crazy how many accidents we’re having from all this construction,” she said Friday afternoon.
“Every street right now is under construction for some reason. You’ve got the stuff on (State Road) 9, the stuff on (Interstate) 70. Everywhere you turn you have to detour some way or another,” said Cooper.
She’s not alone in her frustration. Social media sites are full of people complaining about the state of local traffic, with some saying they’ve been stuck on I-70 for two or three hours at a time.
As a Realtor with F.C. Tucker in Greenfield, Cooper drives all over the county practically every day. She doesn’t recall the road conditions being this bad since she moved here 25 years ago.
“It’s making it kind of impossible to even be scheduling things, because I don’t know if it’s going to take me 20 minutes or an hour and a half to get there,” she said.
The problem has been compounded by work on I-70, State Road 9 and U.S. 40 taken place simultaneously. Frequent accidents on I-70 in recent weeks have forced semis and other traffic to seek alternatives on lesser traveled country roads, causing frustrating backups and travel hazards.
Capt. Robert Harris of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department said they’ve asked officials from the Indiana Department of Transportation to look into the cause of the issues on I-70 forcing drivers onto the county roads more than normal.
“For some reason we are having multiple crashes a day on the interstate,” Harris said.
Most of the crashes are concentrated in the construction zone around the 110-111 mile markers on the eastbound side of the interstate, Harris noted, and they’re hoping INDOT can figure out the cause and see why traffic seems to come to mayhem in that area. Just this week, accidents happened on four straight days.
Harris said the collisions have typically been rear-end accidents, or ones where vehicles are swerving off into the ditch to avoid stopped traffic in front of them.
“Either way, the crashes are almost all caused by drivers not paying attention, or not leaving enough room between vehicles to react when traffic slows or stops in the construction zone,” he said.
With issues on the interstate, it leads to increased traffic issues in Greenfield, which is seeing more crashes than normal.
Since State Road 9 is closed in places through Greenfield, traffic is detoured from State Road 3 or State Road 109 on U.S. 40 all the way to Mt. Comfort to re-enter the interstate. That is causing long backups at times through the center of the city.
“Additionally, we have had several calls of semi-trucks trying to find their own way through the county using roads that are not meant for truck traffic,” Harris said. “These semis have taken down stop signs, road signs, power lines, and done other damage to roads and property.”
Cooper said she’s seen a number of semis causing issues near her home at County Road 200N and Mt. Comfort Road, just south of the I-70 interchange.
“There’s just semis everywhere. They’re on all the back roads. I’ve seen them take out mailboxes, and I saw one go off the road and I thought he was going to tip,” she said.
Deputy Chief Chuck McMichael of the Greenfield Police Department said when I-70 does close because of an accident, U.S. 40 becomes the detour route from Mt. Comfort Road to State Road 3 in Henry County.
He noted with the State Street project already slowing things down, it’s hard to avoid the congestion.
“This then adds all of that extra traffic onto Main Street and McKenzie Road,” McMichael said. “We can only encourage folks to have patience and use caution in the high-congestion areas.”
McMichael said drivers need to evaluate the decisions they make.
“This goes for everyone, all of the time,” McMichael said.
Officers are still seeing too many people driving with their phones in their hands, eating food and otherwise driving while distracted.
“All of these extra little things can quickly result in an avoidable crash with potentially life-changing consequences,” McMichael said.
The backups and detours are also causing headaches for local businesses already struggling with long-term closures on State Road 9 and U.S. 40, as semis and other traffic backs up along the two main thoroughfares through town.
“The heavy truck traffic in front of Griggsby’s has caused some problems,” said Angie Reed, who oversees operations at the downtown Greenfield gastropub on U.S. 40, just west of State Road 9.
“Our guests like to sit on our patio, and the street noise has increased in such a way that it is difficult to enjoy it. We had musicians this week that were having a difficult time competing with all of the road noise,” she said.
The GPD has began utilizing the Hancock County Emergency Management Agency to assist with traffic along Main Street when backups get severe. The volunteers have been trained to operate the traffic control signals that help keep traffic flowing. This at least keeps the congestion flowing, albeit slowly.
“Without the help of EMA, at most of the intersections only about three semi’s can get through the signals on a green light,” McMichael said. “They are slow to get going and create a backup at the signals.”
McMichael noted they are continuing seeing crashes throughout the city but so far none have been serious. However, he wants to remind drivers a 40-ton semi cannot stop quickly and is an encounter drivers do not want to have.
Harris noted with no one wants to wish the summer away, but most everyone is looking forward to the end of this construction season. However, he added a reminder: “Then we get to look forward to more work on I-70 next summer.”
Cooper understands the need for summer construction projects, but feels the multitude of projects in the county could have been better orchestrated.
“I don’t know if they’re catching up on a bunch of projects that got delayed by COVID or why all of central Indiana has to be under construction right now, but I feel like they didn’t plan things out very well,” she said.
