Meridian Street Will Close At 28th Street Beginning Jan. 2

Updated Jan. 1 at 5 p.m.

The DigIndy tunnel project will detour many downtown commuters at the start of the new year.

Citizens Energy Group says Meridian Street will be closed at 28th Street Jan. 2 through Oct. 31 as crews work on an update to the city's sewer system designed to keep raw sewage from overflowing into Indianapolis' waterways. 

Additionally, 28th Street will be closed east of Illinois Street to Pennsylvania Street for the same period. Detour routes will be posted beginning at 30th Street from the north and Fall Creek Parkway from the south.

Citizens says the project in this area will include two large sewers to capture and divert combined sewer overflows to the Fall Creek Tunnel, a portion of the 28-mile long DigIndy Tunnel System. 

Citizens recently announced that crews have completed 10 miles of the system. When completed in 2025, the network of tunnels will store 250 million gallons of sewage and storm water during heavy rain and will keep about 6 billion gallons of sewer overflows out of area waterways.  

More Detours Ahead

The DigIndy project isn't be the only construction commuters will have to deal with in the Fall Creek area over the next 18 months. The Indianapolis Department of Public Works and IndyGo are coordinating with Citizens to try to minimize disruptions caused by overlapping projects.

IndyGo's Red Line project will stretch along Meridian Street between 24th and 32nd streets through June 2019.

DPW will keep Central Avenue at Fall Creek Parkway closed through July to finish replacing the bridge over Fall Creek. Then, College Avenue be closed at Fall Creek Parkway in August while DPW rehabilitates that bridge. DPW will also begin resurfacing 25th Street this spring.