Indiana State Road 37
State Road 37 is a major route in the U.S. state of Indiana, running as a four-lane divided highway for a majority of its course in Southern and Central Indiana.
At one time, the route ran from the southwest corner of the state to the northeast corner. In the pre-Interstate Highway era, SR 37 was the most direct route between Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, and Bloomington. Interstate 69 has supplanted it as a through route, and SR 37 now consists of three disconnected segments, with the segment through Indianapolis being replaced entirely by I-69 in 2024. The longest segment starts at Tell City on the Ohio River and ends in Bloomington in south central Indiana. Another shorter segment resumes off I-69 and runs northeast to SR 9 in Marion. The other segment in northeastern Indiana runs from I-469 near Fort Wayne to the Ohio state line.
Route description
Southern segment
The southern segment of SR 37 begins at a junction with SR 66 near the Ohio River in Tell City. Angling northeast, it enters the Hoosier National Forest then turns north until it meets I-64 just north of SR 62 at St. Croix. SR 37 now continues north beyond I-64, to eventually meet SR 64 near Eckerty. These two routes then run concurrently to the east for about, where just north of English SR 37 departs to the north toward Paoli and SR 64 continues east toward Marengo. Just prior to reaching Paoli SR 37 leaves the National Forest. Once in town the route has a very brief concurrency with US 150 and SR 56 to loop around the town square before it leaves to the north, heading for Orleans and Mitchell.Until reaching Mitchell, SR 37 is a two-lane rural route with relatively light traffic. However, from this point north to Bloomington, the character of the road changes to become a major rural arterial route. At Mitchell the four-lane divided highway begins with a short concurrency of SR 60 on SR 37 as both routes skirt the edge of town. From there, SR 37 continues north to US 50 on the outskirts of Bedford. US 50 and SR 37 then run concurrently, curving northeast to cross the East Fork of the White River before turning north to bypass the center of the city on its west side. After US 50 leaves to the east, SR 37 proceeds northward to Bloomington, where it now meets up with I-69 to the southwest just outside of that city. This interchange marks the northern terminus of the southern segment.
The portions of SR 37 between Tell City and I-64, and from Paoli to Bedford, were designated as the Frank O'Bannon Highway, to honor the late former governor, following his death in 2003. Between the two SR 37 segments, the O'Bannon Highway designation follows SR 145, SR 56 and US 150 past Patoka Lake, through French Lick and West Baden Springs to Paoli.
Central segment
SR 37 resumes as a four-lane freeway off exit 205 of I-69 in Fishers and heads northward. It has a few interchanges with local roads before the freeway segment ends north of 146th Street. SR 37 then passes just east of Noblesville, meeting SR 32 and SR 38 before leaving Noblesville proper.Northeast of Noblesville, SR 37 reverts to a two-lane rural highway. Along the Hamilton—Madison county line, it runs concurrently with SR 13 until those routes split just south of Elwood. From there, SR 37 angles north-northeast to reach the northern terminus of the central segment at SR 9 just south of Marion.
Northern segment
The northern segment of SR 37 begins at a junction with I-469 on the northeast side of Fort Wayne. From there it runs northeast approximately, passing through Harlan, to terminate at the Ohio state line near the Allen–DeKalb county line. The road continues northeast in Ohio as State Route 2, to Hicksville, Ohio and beyond.History
Southern segment
SR 37 was once a section of the Dixie Highway from Indianapolis to Paoli.In the 1950s, SR 37 ran north of Bloomington on the roads now called Cascades Drive and Old 37 to the northern end of Monroe County. South of Bloomington, SR 37 followed Walnut Street Pike, Fairfax Road, Valley Mission Road, Guthrie Road, and Kentucky Hollow Road to Oolitic. These were replaced in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the straighter sections called College Avenue and Walnut Street north of Bloomington and the sections called Walnut Street and Old 37 south to Oolitic. As soon as the current four-lane SR 37 was finished in 1976, a portion of Kentucky Hollow Road was abandoned north of Oolitic and a stone quarry that was alongside SR 37 for years consumed the road.
SR 37 now turns to the east and is concurrent with SR 64 from Eckerty to English, where it exits the eastbound highway and rejoins the old route. The old, winding stretch of 37 from I-64 at exit 86 north to English has been designated as SR 237. Between 2009 and 2014, this change also eliminated the SR 37 concurrency with I-64 between that route's exits 79 and 86.
Bloomington to Indianapolis
Before 2024, SR 37 ran continuously from the northern end of the southern segment at I-69 southwest of Bloomington north to the Indianapolis area. This segment was gradually upgraded and reopened with Interstate Highway standards, with I-69 gradually extended concurrently along SR 37. After completing this segment of I-69 in August 2024, SR 37 signage was removed, truncating it and splitting it further into three disconnected segments.Indianapolis
SR 37 originally ended at the junction of SR 35 and US 31 at Meridian and South Streets downtown. The route that became SR 37 was initially numbered SR 13 in Marion and most of Hamilton Counties. SR 13 began at Meridian and Michigan Streets, then the junction of US 31, SR 13, and SR 367.SR 13 followed Meridian St. north to Fall Creek Parkway N. Drive, where it turned northeast. SR 13 then followed Fall Creek and Allisonville Road to Strawtown in Hamilton County, where what is now SR 37 was undesignated until 1940. In 1940, the portion from north of Strawtown to south of Elwood was made part of SR 13. From south of Elwood to Marion, the road now SR 37 was numbered SR 15. By 1945, the entire route described above became a continuation of SR 37 from the south side of Indianapolis. SR 37 was designated along Michigan Street and Vermont Street from Meridian Street to West Street. SR 37 then turned south on West Street until it became Bluff Road, which was already part of SR 37.
In 1953, the state rerouted SR 37 to overlap US 36/SR 67 along 38th Street starting at Fall Creek Parkway. The three roads would be multiplexed from 38th and Fall Creek, to 38th and Northwestern Avenue, then south along Northwestern Avenue and West Street until the above-mentioned location at Michigan and West streets.
In 1957, construction was started on the Noblesville Bypass of SR 37. This bypass was designed to go to the east side of Noblesville, through Fishers, and along a newly constructed road in Marion County to connect to Fall Creek Parkway just north of the then route of SR 37. One of the "quirks" in the design of the new SR 37 was a five-point intersection with SR 100, at the corner of Shadeland Road and 82nd Street. By 1958, SR 37's Noblesville bypass was completed to the junction with SR 100 from the north. SR 37 then was rerouted along 82nd Street to Allisonville, where it turned south to connect to Fall Creek Parkway has it had for the previous 35 years. By 1959, the new route was completed, and the Allisonville Road route was renumbered SR 37A.
In the early to mid-1960s, two changes were made to SR 37. One which would eventually become part of I-69: interchanges were built at SR 100 and 116th Street, as well as a connection to the under construction I-465. The second was the construction of an exit ramp on I-465 for the eventual construction of a Bluff Road bypass through southern Marion and northern Johnson Counties.
In 1967, there were two SR 37s on the south side of Indianapolis: one along Bluff Road and one along the Bluff Road bypass. The two did not directly connect at all. By 1969, SR 37 was multiplexed with US 31 to I-465/I-74 at what is now exit 2. The route was multiplexed with I-465/I-74 between exits 2 and 4. This caused the Bluff Road route to be abandoned in its connections to the state road system, so it was decommissioned. Some unofficial maps listed Bluff Road as SR 37A for some time after this, although the state of Indiana never recognized it as such.
By 1972, I-69 was completed along the SR 37 corridor from I-465 to where it had ended to that point at the junction with SR 37 Noblesville bypass.
SR 37 stayed much the same until 1999 or 2000 when all state and US highway designations were completely removed from inside the I-465 loop. SR 37 was then officially rerouted along I-465 along Indianapolis's east and south sides. The interchanges for SR 37 from I-465 were exit 4 and exit 37.
In August 2024, SR 37 was removed entirely from the Indianapolis area, as I-69 had largely replaced it south of Indianapolis. SR 37 used to run on what is now I-69 until just south of exit 162, just south of I-465, before turning slightly northeastward to meet I-465 at exit 4. It then routed eastwards along the eastern half of I-465 to exit 37, splitting concurrently with I-69 and following I-69 before meeting with the southern terminus of the central segment, where it splits off at exit 205 like it does today.
Central and northern segments
In 1940, the section of SR 37 from its current northern junction with SR 13 to Marion was designated SR 15. Another section that was to become SR 37, from Fort Wayne northeast to the Ohio border, was already designated SR 14.By 1945, SR 37 had been routed along its current route from Rigdon to the south of Marion to the junction of SR 9. SR 37 was then overlapped along SR 9 from that junction to Huntington, then with US 24 from Huntington to Fort Wayne. The state then moved SR 14 from what became SR 37 to what was SR 230.
In Fort Wayne, the combined US 24/SR 37 followed Upper Huntington Road until it met with SR 14 at Illinois Road. Just beyond that junction, the three routes split into a one-way pair, with Jefferson Boulevard and Maumee Avenue handling eastbound traffic and Washington Boulevard used for westbound travel. East of downtown, SR 37 departed the pairing with US 24/SR 14, turning north onto Anthony Boulevard to cross the Maumee River. Roughly later, the route turned northeast onto Crescent Avenue, which becomes Stellhorn Road at Hobson Road/St. Joe Road as it curves to run due east. Finally, SR 37 turned onto Maysville Road, angling northeast again and then passing where an interchange would eventually be built with the I-469 beltway.
In the 1970s, an expansion of the Anthony Boulevard section to four lanes was planned; this was successfully lobbied against by the North Anthony Neighborhood Association.
By 1980, the official multiplex along SR 9 and US 24 was decommissioned. This created the northern section of SR 37, with its origin point located at Crescent Avenue and Coliseum Boulevard in Fort Wayne. When I-469 was completed, the mileage between Coliseum Boulevard and I-469 was decommissioned and returned to local control.
To improve traffic flow along SR 37 north of where it branches off I-69, the communities of Fishers and Nobleville started a project to reconstruct drainage lines and remove five signalized intersections. Work on the drainage lines was started in September 2018 and completed by February 2020 while the 135th Street intersection was converted to a pair of right-in/right-outs. The other four intersections are to be converted into interchanges and will be completed in phases. Phase three converted the East 146th Street intersection into a single-point urban interchange while phases one and three converted the intersections at East 126th Street and East 131st Street to dogbone interchanges. These phases were completed by September 2022. In January 2023, pre-construction on the final phase, which will change the 141st Street intersection to a dogbone interchange, changed the intersection to right-in/right-out to improve traffic flow. A timeline for construction of the interchange was to be provided once project bids are made in summer 2023, and was tentatively scheduled to begin in September 2023 and be completed by October 2025. However, the cost of construction and labor rose due to other construction projects in central Indiana, and the bid process was delayed by six months. Construction is now not expected to begin until summer 2024.