I-74 lane closure announced

Batesville, In. — The Indiana Department of Transportation will set concrete barrier wall sections along the right lane of eastbound Interstate 74 at mile marker 153.7, weather permitting, beginning next Monday (NOV 26). The barrier wall will separate workers and equipment from live traffic while efforts are made to correct an embankment slide just west of Western Creek.

A geohazard subcontractor will soon be onsite to stabilize the slide area with lengthy steel shafts driven into bedrock. These “soil nails” hold metal gridwork in place that when overcoated with shotcrete forms a stout retaining wall.

Eastbound I-74’s right lane and outside shoulder will be closed to traffic at the stabilization site for approximately 30 days.

Milestone is the state’s prime contractor for INDOT’s $61 million pavement replacement project of 12.8 miles of I-74 between Exit 143 at New Point and Exit 156 at State Road 101. Geostablization International is the geohazard subcontractor.

Once the embankment is stabilized, all I-74 lanes will remain open for winter until Phase III operations begin next spring.