Unofficial detour approved around SR 54, Crowe Road closure

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

The Greene County Commissioners approved an unofficial detour around the road closure at State Road 54 at Crowe Road near Ridgeport.

Greene County Highway Department Superintendent Roger Hamilton approached the commissioners Tuesday morning with the proposed agreement with the Indiana Department of Transportation to allow an unofficial detour using Holtsclaw Road, American Bottoms Road and Crowe Road for regular motorists. INDOT implemented an emergency closure of the portion of State Road 54 at Crowe Road on June 4 after complications from a slide left the road unsafe.

Commissioners Vice President Ed Michael said this will protect the county from having to pay for all damage along that path while the closure is in place.

Screenshot from Google shows the path of the unofficial detour.

“If the extra traffic tears up those county roads, the state will help us repair those roads with this agreement in place. We tried to detour the traffic to down around I69 and also on State Road 45 and State Road 58, but there are a lot of people that know to travel that (county) road. It’s a habit. A lot of people travel on State Road 54. They are on time schedules and people are having trouble remembering that road is closed,” Michael explained.

If heading east on State Road 54 (toward Bloomington from Bloomfield), take a right onto Holtsclaw Road, then left onto American Bottoms Road and another left onto Crowe Road, which will take the driver back to State Road 54, where they can turn right to continue heading east on the highway.

“We want to keep tractors and trailers off of that road though. There is a gravel road on part of it. It’s a one-lane road if there are tractors and trailers on it. There’s no room to get off on the side. There is room for cars to pass if they slow down, but not if there are tractors and trailers on that road, and there’s a 10-ton bridge down there they have to cross,” Michael explained. “We prefer they (large vehicles) take I69 from 445, or from Bloomfield down US 231 to I69.”

As of last Friday, INDOT Southwest District Communications Director Jason Tiller reported the closure will remain in place at least until the originally scheduled project letting time in September.

“Our team is working to accelerate this project and get it to letting sooner, but there are a lot of factors that will play into that. At this time, I’m unable to speculate on when/if that will be able to happen. This project will most likely require a full closure, so we’re potentially looking at a road closed until the slide is completely corrected, but it’s extremely likely that the road will be closed until the project has been awarded,” Tiller said.

Note: This area has experienced flooding issues with the recent rainfall. In the event of flooding, revert back to the official detours set out by INDOT. A reader reported Tuesday afternoon that American Bottoms Road was closed due to flooding when she attempted the detour.

In other business, due to a change in state statute, the commissioners approved an amendment to 2003 ordinance regarding fees for property endorsements. Starting July 1, the Greene County Auditor’s Office will have to increase its fee to $10 for each parcel contained in a document for which the auditor makes a real property endorsement.

County Attorney Marvin Abshire stated the previous statute allowed the county to charge $5, but now requires the county to charge $10. Those funds are used exclusively to update the plat maps.

The commissioners also approved several board appointments, including”

• Rob Norton, Ed Guthrie, Steve Lindsey, Tony Resler and Nicole Noel to the Community Corrections Advisory Board for four terms.

• Don Schulte, re-appointed to the Greene County General Hospital Board for a two-year term.

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