EIGHT YEARS LATER, YOU STILL CAN'T GET THROUGH INDIANAPOLIS.

Aaron Renn first asked this question in 2013.  "If You Can Repeatedly Close a Freeway For Months At a Time, Do You Really Need It At All?"  The "carmageddon" some nervous types feared then never materialized, so he offered some suggestions.

Removing the only through interstate connection in downtown Indianapolis might seem, as it were, a bridge too far. But not only do I believe it may actually be feasible, it’s a potential game changer for downtown.

There is plenty of precedent for routing through traffic around the I-465 beltway. In fact, I-74 and the future I-69 do just this. For I-65, an I-465 routing is a similar distance to the downtown one. In fact, not that long ago that route was signed as an official alternate route one could choose (and still may be as far as I know). Similarly, because I-70 runs southwest out of downtown and the origin point of I-465 is shifted to the north of downtown, it’s not much of a detour for through traffic on I-70 either.

Earlier this spring, through traffic had to use the 465 beltway as there was yet another (or was it still the same?) closure of one of the interstates through downtown. Seems like there's always part of the interstate out of commission for construction there.  Might even be opportunities to restore central city neighborhoods to a state of good repair, putting right an error from years ago.  "But when the forecasted traffic apocalypse fails to materialize yet again this fall, I hope people will at least consider why the state has to keep spending millions upon millions of dollars to maintain forever a freeway that may not even be needed."