All six members of the Hamilton County Council voted to approve the county’s share of funding for the State Road 37 project Wednesday night.  That vote puts into motion the start of engineering work for the massive upgrade from 126th Street to 146th Street.

The plan is to replace the current traffic signals along that stretch of roadway with exit & entrance ramps, and roundabouts for east-west access, much the same as Keystone Avenue in Carmel.

The vote was a blow to the State Road 37 Alliance, a group of businesses along the busy highway,  who argued for slowing down the plans.

Councilman Fred Glynn offered a resolution calling for a fund to provide a marketing plan for the businesses impacted by the road construction.  The county is offering up to $250,000 to the marketing fund, which the City of Fishers has offered to match.

This puts the final piece of the funding puzzle together, allowing the $124 million project to move forward.  The engineering work alone will take about 2 years, meaning construction is not likely to begin until 2018 at the earliest.

As the official meeting began, council members and county commissioners honored Jim Belden, a long time council member who died February 14th.