Editing Interstate 465 (section)

==History==
===Planning and alignment selection===
A beltway for [[Indianapolis, Indiana|Indianapolis]] was part of the original plan of the Interstate Highway System in 1955. The general alignment was to be either on or adjacent to the now-defunct [[Indiana State Road 100|SR&nbsp;100]], which, by then, had only two completed legs—on the north side, along 86th Street west of the [[White River (Indiana)|White River]] and 82nd Street east of the river, and on the east side, along Shadeland Avenue. On the city's west side, an alignment corridor paralleling High School Road was preferred, and, on the south side, one between Hanna Avenue and Thompson Road had been proposed. Development along 86th Street made its use unfeasible for I-465, so a 91st Street alignment was initially proposed. This proved to be controversial and caused many delays in final alignment selection for the north leg, postponing its construction by several years.<ref name=Ripple1975>Ripple, David Alan. "History of the Interstate System in Indiana", [[Purdue University]], 1975.{{Full citation needed|date=December 2016}}</ref>

===Initial construction (1959–1970)===
The I-465 beltway was constructed in segments. There were 16&nbsp;segments along the original proposed semicircumferential alignment between [[Interstate 65 in Indiana|I-65]] in [[Boone County, Indiana|Boone County]] at exit&nbsp;129 and that same highway {{Convert|6|mi|km|abbr=|spell=in}} to the south at exit&nbsp;123 in [[Marion County, Indiana|Marion County]]. Indiana highway officials recognized the value of having the route be a full circumferential, so using non-Interstate federal funding and employing a temporary designation of SR&nbsp;100, they planned a separate 17th segment northward between I-65 at its exit&nbsp;123 and the north leg of I-465 in Boone County. By the time that added section was completed in 1970, Indiana had obtained federal approval to sign it as I-465 as well, resulting in the creation of a dogleg section of I-465 outside of the loop (now signed as [[Interstate 865|I-865]]).<ref name=Ripple1975 />

State highway officials concentrated on building the west and south legs of I-465 early in the overall project, since they were the missing portions of the SR&nbsp;100 concept. Construction began in 1959, and the first section of the I-465 beltway to be completed was the portion on the west leg between I-65 near [[Eagle Creek Park]] and I-74/[[U.S. Route 136 in Indiana|US&nbsp;136]] in [[Speedway, Indiana|Speedway]]. That section was opened to traffic on September&nbsp;26, 1961, simultaneously with the adjacent section of I-65 northwest from there running {{convert|1.48|mi|km}} to 71st Street. By July&nbsp;18, 1962, all four segments of the original west leg were open between [[Indiana State Road 67|SR&nbsp;67]] (Kentucky Avenue) and I-65, but the interchange with [[Interstate 70 in Indiana|I-70]] in that stretch was not completed until much later that decade when the segment of that route from I-465 west to [[Indiana State Road 43|SR&nbsp;43]] opened in 1968.<ref name=Ripple1975 />

The south side sections were the next to be completed, with three opening in the second half of 1963 and two more on October&nbsp;15, 1964. This completed both the south leg and the first segment of the east leg and included a connection from a point just north of the Raymond Street grade separation to SR&nbsp;100 (Shadeland Avenue) at Washington Street ([[U.S. Route 40 in Indiana|US&nbsp;40]]). With these sections open, the full length of I-74's concurrency over I-465 was now available for motorists. The south leg's junction with I-65 was also completed, but I-65 itself was open only between a temporary intersection at Thompson Road to the south and the Keystone Avenue interchange {{convert|1.18|mi|km}} north of I-465 until early 1971.<ref name=Ripple1975 />

With SR&nbsp;100/Shadeland Avenue connected to the full southern and western bypass of Indianapolis, work on I-465's east leg slowed, delaying the opening of the next segment over three years. In January&nbsp;1968, two sections of the east leg, between [[U.S. Route 36 in Indiana|US&nbsp;36]]/[[Indiana State Road 67|SR&nbsp;67]] (Pendleton Pike) and the SR&nbsp;100 junction near Raymond Street, were completed and opened a day apart. This allowed through traffic from both US&nbsp;36 and SR&nbsp;67 to bypass the increasingly congested SR&nbsp;100. The interchange with [[Interstate 70 in Indiana|I-70]] in this newly opened section was not yet complete, and its ramps did not open until the opening of that route's mainline between SR&nbsp;100/Shadeland Avenue and [[Indiana State Road 9|SR&nbsp;9]] near [[Greenfield, Indiana|Greenfield]] on December&nbsp;2 of that year. On October&nbsp;23, 1968, the section of I-465 between Pendleton Pike and 56th Street at Shadeland Avenue was finished and opened to traffic, completing the east leg's eastern bypass of SR&nbsp;100.<ref name=Ripple1975 />

With its alignment controversies now settled, the north leg of I-465 began to take shape in the late 1960s. The section between [[U.S. Route 421|US&nbsp;421]] (Michigan Road) and [[U.S. Route 31 in Indiana|US&nbsp;31]] (Meridian Street) was the first on this side of town to see traffic on October&nbsp;20, 1968. A year to the day later, the segment from US&nbsp;31 to Keystone Avenue (then [[Indiana State Road 431|SR&nbsp;431]]) was opened to motorists. The next month, in November&nbsp;1969, the north extension of the west leg was completed and signed as I-465 (although it was considered to be "added mileage" by the [[Federal Highway Administration]] (FHWA) since it was built to Interstate standards using non-Interstate funds by Indiana), but only the portion between I-65 and 86th Street was opened to traffic because the segment of the north leg to which it would connect was not yet complete. That occurred on August&nbsp;18, 1970, when the western end of the north leg between I-65 near Royalton and Michigan Road (US&nbsp;421) was finished and opened to traffic. At that time, the final connection on the north extension of the west leg to 86th Street was also opened, leaving only one remaining gap in the entire I-465 route.<ref name=Ripple1975 />

The final section of I-465 to be built was the portion joining the north and east legs between Keystone Avenue (then SR&nbsp;431) and 56th Street at Shadeland Avenue (then SR&nbsp;100). This stretch opened to traffic on October&nbsp;5, 1970, and marked the completion of the I-465 beltway around Indianapolis.<ref name=Ripple1975 />

===Subsequent improvements and changes===
The first of the major post-completion rebuild and expansion projects occurred from 1999 to 2002, when the heavily traveled northern section of the east leg was modernized and expanded to as many as 13&nbsp;lanes in one short portion. Concurrently, the east junction with I-70 was rebuilt and reconfigured. In 2000, the Emerson Avenue interchange on the south leg was converted from a conventional diamond to a [[single-point urban interchange]] (SPUI), becoming the first SPUI on the I-465 beltway.

Between 2004 and 2005, the north extension of I-465's west leg between I-65 and I-865 was rebuilt to widen and update the freeway in this heavily traveled section located along the western edge of the massive Park&nbsp;100 commercial and industrial development. This segment was rapidly becoming functionally obsolete due to continued growth of that complex as well as that of other nearby residential and commercial projects in [[Pike Township, Marion County, Indiana|Pike Township]]. Both interchanges along this stretch, 71st Street (exit&nbsp;21) and 86th Street (exit&nbsp;23), were totally rebuilt while remaining open to traffic and had loop ramps added for west-to-south movements. In addition, a new northbound exit ramp was added at exit&nbsp;21 which bridges over 71st Street to directly deposit motorists onto eastbound 73rd Street. On the mainline, dual auxiliary lanes were added in each travel direction between these interchanges and the 79th Street grade separation over I-465 was demolished and rebuilt to allow for the widened freeway below. Distinctive decorative features were also incorporated into most of the grade separation structures within this project. Also, bicycle paths were established along the southern side of both 86th and 71st streets, which included grade separations with the east-to-south ramps at both interchanges.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

In April&nbsp;2002, the [[Indiana Department of Transportation]] (INDOT) announced the redesignation of the dogleg portion of I-465 as [[Interstate 865|I-865]]. This change eliminated the three-way intersection of I-465 where the north extension of the west leg met the original north leg (at exit&nbsp;25).<ref name=INDOT20020424>{{cite press release |author = Indiana Department of Transportation |author-link = Indiana Department of Transportation |url = http://www.in.gov/serv/presscal?PF=dot&Clist=6&Elist=52862 |access-date = December 5, 2016 |publisher = Indiana Department of Transportation |title = Indiana's 'New' Interstate: I-865 |date = April 24, 2002 |archive-date = January 10, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180110235746/http://www.in.gov/serv/presscal?PF=dot&Clist=6&Elist=52862 |url-status = live }}</ref>

INDOT completed an $800-million (equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|800000000|2012}}}} in {{Inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}{{Inflation/fn|index=US-GDP}}) project called Accelerate&nbsp;465 to refurbish and reconfigure the original west leg of the loop between July&nbsp;2007 and December&nbsp;2012. This project completely rebuilt and added new travel lanes, added auxiliary lanes, rebuilt many grade separations, and reconfigured nearly all of the interchanges along I-465 from just north of the Kentucky Avenue (SR&nbsp;67 south) interchange to the 56th Street partial interchange. The junction with [[Interstate 74 in Indiana|I-74]] and Crawfordsville Road ([[U.S. Route 136 in Indiana|US&nbsp;136]] west) was reconfigured to allow direct access between I-465 and US&nbsp;136 for the first time. Interlaced into that design is a full directional connection for I-74, which replaced the former cloverleaf interchange and removed its original stub connector east of I-465 to the intersection of Crawfordsville Road and High School Road in Speedway.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.in.gov/indot/3042.htm |title = INDOT: Accelerate 465 |access-date = September 9, 2012 |archive-date = October 24, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121024114027/http://www.in.gov/indot/3042.htm |url-status = live }}</ref>

Also in 2007, another undertaking was launched by INDOT to modernize the entire northeastern portion of I-465. All three interchanges along the freeway in this stretch—Keystone Avenue (exit&nbsp;33), Allisonville Road (exit&nbsp;35) and I-69/Binford Boulevard (exit&nbsp;37)—were to be modified and rebuilt.<ref name=WISH-TV>{{cite news |url = http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7262468 |title = INDOT Reveals Plans for Major Construction on I-465 & I-69 |publisher = WISH-TV |location = Indianapolis |date = October 24, 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080514153630/http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7262468 |archive-date = May 14, 2008 }}</ref> As this project progressed, financial constraints prompted INDOT to scale back its scope.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} The reconstruction of I-465 between the White River bridge and Fall Creek, including the interchange with I-69, began in 2022 under a separate project announced in 2015 and formally relaunched as "Clear Path&nbsp;465" in 2017.<ref name="INDOT20151229">{{cite press release |title=State to Invest $50 Million to Improve I-465/I-69 Interchange on Indy's Northeast Side |url=http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.aspx?fromdate=1/1/2013&todate=12/31/2016&display=Month&type=public&eventidn=240808&view=EventDetails&information_id=235805 |publisher=Indiana Department of Transportation |date=December 29, 2015 |access-date=December 8, 2016 |archive-date=December 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221141652/http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.aspx?fromdate=1%2F1%2F2013&todate=12%2F31%2F2016&display=Month&type=public&eventidn=240808&view=EventDetails&information_id=235805 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ClearPath463>{{cite web |url = https://www.in.gov/indot/3654.htm |title = Clear Path 465 (Interstate 465 & 69 Northeast) |publisher = Indiana Department of Transportation |access-date = July 17, 2018 |archive-date = July 18, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180718001726/https://www.in.gov/indot/3654.htm |url-status = live }}</ref> The original, scaled-back project concluded by the end of 2012. The beltway's mainline was reconstructed with additional travel and auxiliary lanes being added in two separate segments—from east of Meridian Street to Allisonville Road and from a point at the southeast end of the I-69/Binford interchange southward to Fall Creek.

The Keystone Avenue [[partial cloverleaf interchange]] was reconfigured to allow [[free-flow interchange|free-flowing]] access for most of the movements between I-465 and Keystone. Although Keystone operates as a [[controlled-access highway]] both north of I-465 and up to the first junction south of the Interstate, the movements from westbound I-465 to southbound Keystone and from eastbound I-465 to northbound Keystone are not free-flowing but are left turns controlled by traffic lights.

At Allisonville Road, the interchange was converted into a more efficient SPUI configuration. Finally, though the interchange itself was not rebuilt, the I-69/Binford Boulevard junction had two ramps slightly modified to facilitate better traffic flow.<ref name=WISH-TV />

As part of the major project to upgrade {{convert|13|mi|km}} of [[U.S. Route 31 in Indiana|US&nbsp;31]] in [[Hamilton County, Indiana|Hamilton County]] to a full [[Interstate-standard]] freeway, the I-465 north leg interchange at [[Meridian Street (Indianapolis)|Meridian Street]] (exit&nbsp;31) was reconfigured between October&nbsp;2013 and December&nbsp;2015 (with some additional work continuing until November&nbsp;22, 2016) to the present partial directional (system interchange) design which allows for free-flow movements to or from the new US&nbsp;31 freeway to the north.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

As part of its Operation Indy Commute project, INDOT began work in 2013 to widen I-65 on both its northbound and southbound mainlines from exit&nbsp;103 at Southport Road northward to the junction with I-465's south leg, which would also be modified. To reduce congestion at and near that interchange, the loop ramp from westbound I-465 to southbound I-65 was replaced by a flyover ramp. The eastbound I-465 exit to southbound I-65 was also expanded for smoother merging with the new west-to-south flyover. In addition, grade separations over I-465 were replaced on Sherman Drive and Carson Avenue to allow for longer and wider approaches to this busy junction. Most of this work was completed in late 2014.<ref name="indotindycommunute">{{cite web |title = Operation Indy Commute: I-65 & I-465 South |publisher = Indiana Department of Transportation |url = http://www.in.gov/indot/3072.htm |access-date = April 2, 2015 |archive-date = April 3, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150403180659/http://www.in.gov/indot/3072.htm |url-status = live }}</ref>

In 2022, construction began on Clear Path 465, a project involving widening I-465 between the White River and Fall Creek, as well as rebuilding the interchange of I-465 and I-69 in the northeast region of Indianapolis. As part of this project, the interchange will be reconfigured to provide a direct movement for traffic on I-69 to continue onto I-465 southbound, which will be concurrent with I-69 upon the interstate's completion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clear Path 465 - A Project to Improve Safety & Traffic Flow |url=https://clearpath465.com/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Clear Path 465 |language=en-US}}</ref>

On August 6 and 9, 2024, the interchange between I-69 and I-465 on the southwest side of Indianapolis (exit 5) officially opened to traffic, with I-69 running concurrently with I-465 on the southeast half of the beltway between exits 5 and 37.<ref name="69south">{{cite web |title=I-69/I-465 System Interchange |url=https://i69finishline.com/i69interchangeopening/ |website=I-69 Finish Line |publisher=[[Indiana Department of Transportation]] |access-date=August 8, 2024}}</ref> With the portion between exits 5 and 49 also including part of the existing concurrency of I-465 and I-74, this created another instance of a three-route concurrency within the [[Interstate Highway System]], the other two (both in Wisconsin) being in [[Milwaukee]] and between [[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]] and [[Portage, Wisconsin|Portage]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

===Memorial designation===

Indianapolis native [[David Letterman]] had [[Coronary artery bypass surgery|quintuple bypass surgery]] in 2000, and, two years later, suggested on his show that I-465 should be renamed the '''David Letterman Bypass''', going so far as to call the mayor of Indianapolis during the ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]''.<ref>{{cite news |first = John |last = Tuohy |date = May 2, 2015 |title = What Can We Name After David Letterman? |url = https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/04/20/can-name-dave/25592107/ |work = Indianapolis Star |access-date = September 16, 2020 |archive-date = September 29, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200929234057/https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/04/20/can-name-dave/25592107/ |url-status = live }}</ref> At the time of the gag on his show, Letterman had offered $10&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|10000000|2002}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}) for the honor, later offering just to pay to change the signs.<ref>{{cite news |title = Letterman: Rename 465 for Me |url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59401094/letterman-renamed-465-for-me/ |work = The Republic |location = Columbus, Indiana |agency = Associated Press |date = October 5, 2002 |page = 7 |access-date = September 16, 2020 |via = [[Newspapers.com]] |archive-date = November 28, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201128060117/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59401094/letterman-renamed-465-for-me/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

In 2011, the [[Indiana General Assembly]] passed a resolution officially designating I-465 as "USS ''Indianapolis'' Memorial Highway" in "the memory of the brave sailors who lost their lives" when [[USS Indianapolis (CA-35)|USS ''Indianapolis'']] was sunk in the Pacific during [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news |title=I-465 gets new name |work=Indianapolis Star |url=http://www.indystar.com/article/20110517/LOCAL18/105170335/I-465-gets-new-name |url-status=dead |access-date=October 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006095059/http://www.indystar.com/article/20110517/LOCAL18/105170335/I-465-gets-new-name |archive-date=October 6, 2014}}</ref> Signs for this designation have been erected sporadically around the loop, but the highway is still referred to nearly exclusively as "I-465" or simply "465" by most locals.