Length 264.4 km | ||
 | ||
West end: US 24 / US 52 at Illinois state line East end: US 24 at Ohio state line Counties Newton County, Indiana, Jasper County, Indiana | ||
U.S. Route 24 (US 24) In Indiana, US 24 runs east from the Illinois state line to Huntington. At Huntington, US 24 turns northeast and runs to Fort Wayne; it then overlaps Interstate 69 (I-69) and Interstate 469 (I-469) to bypass the city before entering Ohio at the state line east of Fort Wayne. The segment of US 24 between Logansport and Toledo, Ohio is part of the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor project of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.
Contents
Illinois to Logansport
This western section of US 24 is mostly rural two-lane. US 24 enters Indiana from Illinois concurrenct with U.S. Route 52 (US 52). US 24 and US 52 heads east towards Kentland, passing through an intersection with State Road 71 (SR 71). In Kentland US 24 and US 52 have an intersection with U.S. Route 41 (US 41) where US 52 turns south. US 24 heads east from Kentland towards Remington, passing through a concurrency with State Road 55. Then in Remington US 24 starts a concurrency with U.S. Route 231. US 24 and US 231 heads east towards Wolcott, passing through an interchange with Interstate 65 (I-65). In Wolcott US 231 heads south and US 24 heads east towards Reynolds. In Reynolds US 24 has an intersection with State Road 43 (SR 43) and starts a concurrency with U.S. Route 421 (US 421). US 24 and US 421 heads east towards Monticello. In Monticello US 421 head south with State Road 39 (SR 39), US 24 now has a concurrency with SR 39. US 24 and SR 39 heads east from Monticello, east of Monticello SR 39 heads north. US 24 heads east towards Logansport, passing through Idaville, Burnettsville, and Lake Cicott.
Logansport to Fort Wayne
This section is a four-lane rural divided highway. US 24 and U.S. Route 35 (US 35) have a concurrency around Logansport and have an interchange with State Road 25 (SR 25) and an intersection with State Road 29 (SR 29). East of Logansport US 35 heads southeast towards Kokomo. US 24 heads east towards Peru passing through an interchange with U.S. Route 31 (US 31). On the north side of Peru US 24 has an intersection with State Road 19 (SR 19). From Peru US 24 heads east towards Wabash passing through an intersection with State Road 115 (SR 115). In Wabash US 24 has intersections with State Road 15 (SR 15) and State Road 13 (SR 13). US 24 then heads towards Huntington passing through an intersection with State Road 524 (SR 524) and a short concurrency with State Road 105 (SR 105). On the west side of Huntington US 24 begains a concurrency with State Road 9 (SR 9). US 24 and SR 9 pass through an intersection with U.S. Route 224 (US 224)/State Road 5 (SR 5). North of Huntington SR 9 heads north and US 24 heads northeast towards Fort Wayne. On the way to Fort Wayne US 24 passes through an intersection with State Road 114 (SR 114). Then on the west side of Fort Wayne US 24 enters onto northbound Interstate 69 (I-69).
Fort Wayne to Ohio
This section of US 24 is mostly freeway, and includes overlaps with Interstate Highways. US 24 enters I-69 heading north at exit 302 (formerly exit 102). US 24 then leaves I-69 at exit 315 (formerly exit 115. US 24 heads east on Interstate 469 (I-469). US 24 is concurrent with I-469 until the east side of New Haven, passing through interchanges with Maplecrest Read and SR 37. US 24 exits I-469 at exit 21 and heads northeast toward Ohio, on a four-lane rural expressway. The highway has an interchange Webster Road, in rural Allen County. After the interchange at Woodburn Road is an interchange with SR 101, in Woodburn. After the interchange with SR 101, US 24 enters Ohio.
Logansport to Fort Wayne
In Logansport US 24 went through Logansport. The first route of US 24 was two-lane undived rural highway north of the new four-lane highway from Logansport to Peru and south of the four-lane highway from Peru to Huntington. From Huntington to Fort Wayne the four-lane highway was built over the two-lane highway.
Fort Wayne to New Haven
Before US 24 was rerouted onto I-69 and I-469, US 24 went through Fort Wayne. US 24 went through downtown on one-way streets. Then east of Fort Wayne US 24 has an interchange with US 30 and then a concurrency with US 30, now known as SR 930. Then US 24 headed downtown New Haven, with US 30 bypassing downtown New Haven. Then US 24 headed north out of downtown New Haven and then turned east. In the early 1980s, US-24 was rerouted out of downtown Fort Wayne, following I-69 north to US-30/Coliseum Boulevard (now SR-930), and then following Coliseum Boulevard around the northern edge of the city. When the southern loop of I-469 opened to traffic in 1989, US-24 was rerouted onto I-69 south, then I-469 to the current interchange with US-24 east of New Haven. After the original 2-lane alignment was bypassed by a 4-lane freeway east of I-469 in 2012, US-24 was rerouted to its present alignment using the northern loop of I-469, via I-69 north.
Fort to Port
Fort to Port was first brought up in a meeting by Indiana State Representative Mitch Harper, in 1989. The project went from New Haven, Indiana to Toledo, Ohio. It was at this meeting the project name 'Fort to Port' was born. The most complex and expensive portion of the Indiana segment is reconstructing the parclo interchange with Interstate 469 in New Haven.
In November 2007, Indiana announced they would change their segment as an expressway with at-grade intersections at Bruick Road, Webster Road, and SR 101, instead of a freeway section with interchanges and overpasses. The only overpasses would be two narrow (12' wide) overpasses for non-motorized traffic (Amish buggies) to cross US 24. Also, the interchange of I-469 and US 24 would remain as-is with traffic signals at the US 24 ramp terminals. The cost savings without interchanges would be approximately $75–$80 million. Right of way would be purchased for future interchanges. This change has been unpopular due to safety concerns with the heavy truck traffic on the corridor. INDOT claims that the current traffic on US 24 does not justify interchanges, even though the 2005 Final EIS states that it does.
Responding to widespread public outcry over the scaled-back design, Governor Mitch Daniels announced on December 12, 2007, that US 24 would have been built as a freeway initially from Bruick Road to the Ohio state line, with interchanges at SR 101 and Webster Road. The entire 13.5-mile (21.7 km) segment is slated for completion in 2012. The intersection with Bruick Road was to have initially been an at-grade crossing, but INDOT announced in August 2009 that a grade-separated interchange will be built here as well. As a result, Indiana's portion of US 24 will be built as an Interstate-quality freeway, except for the at-grade interchange with I-469. INDOT plans to eventually upgrade the I-469/US 24 interchange by adding flyover ramps to allow high-speed movements between the two highways, as was originally intended in the Fort-to-Port Final Environmental Impact Statement published in 2005. Depending on funding, this work may begin in 2013.
Upon completion, ownership of the existing US 24 will be transferred to Allen County, and become a frontage road east of Bruick Road, providing access to the B.F. Goodrich tire plant and adjacent homes and farmland. Indiana is financing construction through the Major Moves program, and will be reimbursed when federal highway funds become available. Sections of the two-lane road that have been bypassed by the freeway are now locally signed as "Old US 24."
Governor Daniels and INDOT held the groundbreaking ceremony for the Indiana section on April 30, 2008. By December 2008, crews had completed construction on 2 miles (3.2 km) of the freeway from the Ohio state line to just east of the SR 101 interchange. On October 29, 2009, Governor Daniels and Ohio Governor Ted Strickland held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Indiana/Ohio state line opening the new US 24 highway from SR 101 near Woodburn, Indiana to Ohio State Route 424 near Defiance, Ohio. The project was complete and the final segment open on November 14, 2012.