The new US 31: fifteen miles of new territory

1994–2014 · THE FREEWAY PROJECT

The largest road project in the county's history took twenty years from project number to open road: The federal project record for the rebuilding of US 31 between Plymouth and South Bend carries designation number 9405230 — numbered, that is, in 1994. The project upgraded the roughly twenty miles of US 31 between US 30 at Plymouth and US 20 at South Bend to a fully access-controlled, grade-separated freeway, on new and existing alignment both. The Final Environmental Impact Statement was approved on 3 April 2006 and the Federal Highway Administration issued its Record of Decision on 26 June 2006; the Federal Register notice of 3 January 2007 closed the window for judicial review on 2 July 2007, and the project went forward. Construction money arrived with the Major Moves program, financed by the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road — the toll road's second gift to the county's road map, told in its own entry below.

INDOT's own summary of what was built: "The 20-mile U.S. 31 corridor between U.S. 30 in Plymouth and the U.S. 20 bypass in South Bend includes 15 miles of new highway alignment and four new interchanges. The $225 million section…" — new territory for three-quarters of its length, running east of the old road past Lakeville and LaPaz. It was the second of the three Major Moves US 31 sections to open, after Kokomo (26 November 2013) and before Hamilton County (2015); together the three removed 32 traffic signals from the Indianapolis–South Bend drive. Traffic shifted to the new alignment in late August 2014, with lane restrictions at both ends running to the end of the year and the ribbon cutting following the opening; the fourth interchange, at 7th Road in Plymouth, opened later in 2014.

INDOT's corridor program continues the logic south: its present project page records that only six traffic signals remain on the 150 miles between Indianapolis and South Bend, and the 2018 Next Level Connections program directed $100 million to four more interchanges. What the freeway did to the towns it left is part of the record: the South Bend Tribune reported Lakeville and LaPaz facing their future without US 31, and the old road's disposition followed INDOT's project answers — the former highway was given to Marshall County, to LaPaz and to South Bend, while the stretch in St. Joseph County outside the city stayed under state control, signed State Road 931 where it is signed at all. South of the parkway the old road — the Michigan Road of 1834 — runs down to its dead end at the new freeway's merge.

Sources:

1. Federal Highway Administration, Notice of Final Federal Agency Actions, Federal Register vol. 72, no. 1 (3 January 2007) — the U.S. 31 Plymouth to South Bend project in Marshall and St. Joseph counties, upgrading US 31 between US 30 and US 20 (approximately 20 miles) to a fully access-controlled, grade-separated freeway on new and existing alignment; project reference Des. No. 9405230; FEIS approved 3 April 2006; Record of Decision issued 26 June 2006; claims barred after 2 July 2007.
2. INDOT project releases as carried in the road record — the 20-mile corridor with 15 miles of new alignment and four new interchanges, the $225 million section, the Major Moves framing, Kokomo's opening of 26 November 2013 and the 32 signals removed across the three sections; traffic shifted to the new alignment in late August 2014 (WSBT, July 2014, and INDOT Northwest's announcements); the 7th Road interchange completed later in 2014.
3. INDOT, US 31 Project page — the free-flow goal between Indianapolis and South Bend, six signals remaining on the 150-mile corridor, and the 2018 Next Level Connections $100 million for four additional interchanges.
4. South Bend Tribune — "Lakeville, LaPaz face future without U.S. 31"; INDOT's project FAQ as reported in the road record on the old road's transfer to Marshall County, LaPaz and South Bend, and the state-retained St. Joseph County stretch.