Both sides have laid out their arguments, and it will soon be time for the Hamilton County Council to decide on the State Road 37 upgrade. The council has the county’s share of the funding for this project on its agenda for the March 2nd regularly scheduled meeting.
On December 10th, 2015, Governor Mike Pence announced an agreement involving the state, Hamilton County and the cities of Fishers & Noblesville to fund a massive upgrade to State Road 37. It would transform that stretch of highway into something like Keystone Avenue in Carmel, with exit and entrance ramps and roundabouts to move traffic east and west.
So far, the State of Indiana, Hamilton County Commissioners and the city of Fishers have signed onto their share of the funding for the first phase of the work in Fishers, which is expected to cost $124 million.
There is one important government body yet to vote on this proposal – that’s the Hamilton County Council, which handles the money decisions for the county. If the county doesn’t approve their part of the funding, nothing moves forward on the project.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has been consistent in his support for the upgrade. Here’s what he told Reporter Lindsey Erdody of the Indianapolis Business Journal in a story posted February 20th:
“There are some people that are obviously very emotional, very concerned about the project that just don’t want to see it happen,” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said. “But the vast majority in the middle agree that something needs to be done.”
You can read the entire IBJ story at this link.
The Fishers City Council has approved its share of the funding for the State Road 37 construction.
The latest support comes from Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear. He wrote a piece published in the Times of Noblesville, urging the Hamilton County Council members to approve the county’s funding share. He wrote, in part:
It would be a colossal mistake to miss the opportunity of joining in the improvements primarily funded by the State of Indiana. How could we tell the state officials, “Thanks, but no thanks to $100 million” especially when we all know how essential this project is to motorists?
You can read Ditslear’s entire article in the Times at this link.
Meanwhile, the founder of the State Road 37 Alliance (a group of businesses along 37 concerned about the proposed project), Bill Smythe, wrote a response to Ditslear’s article. Here’s part of Smythe’s release:
I was taken aback by Mayor Ditslear’s comments in the February 25th The Times where he implored the County Councilors to vote for the State Road 37 project to “avoid momentous consequences”. While I don’t have any issues with the Mayor’s favorable justifications I don’t share his opinion that this vote on March 2nd is mandatory to the long term success of this project.
In fact my opinion is quite the opposite.
You can read Smythe’s entire statement at this link.
Bill Smythe is also a candidate for Hamilton County Commissioner, challenging incumbent Mark Heirbrandt in the May 3rd Republican primary election.
You can listen to my podcast interview with the State Road 37 Alliance at this link.
So we have a group of business leaders along State Road 37 asking that the project be slowed down, and the mayors along the roadway urging full speed ahead. State officials and the Hamilton County Commissioners are also on board to move forward.
The Hamilton County Council is the final hurdle to be cleared in order to start the engineering phase of this massive project. We will know much more after the March 2nd County Council session.