(Rolling Prairie, IN) - More safety improvements are coming to U.S. 20.

 

The Indiana Department of Transportation will be widening roadways and improving intersections in Rolling Prairie. It’s the continuation of a project begun last year. A section of 20 between State Road 39 and Fail Road has already been widened.

 

The upcoming phase will extend highway shoulders and install a 16-foot-wide turn lane along a nearly two-and-a-half-mile stretch between 300 E. and 500 E. Also, one of the crisscrossed intersections at E. Lynn/W. Mechanic St. in front of the Family Express will be removed. Construction will begin in the spring of next year.

 

The project will cost $12.7 million and require over two-and-a-half acres of land acquisition, along with nearly four-and-a-half acres of tree removal.

 

According to INDOT, there has been a 70% increase in traffic on 20 between 2010 and 2016. And just this week, a 24-year-old motorcyclist was killed when his bike rear-ended a vehicle waiting to turn left on 20.

 

Local residents should have already received notice of the project. Public comments or concerns can be submitted to INDOT by May 27.