Carmel police will provide special traffic control . . .
Dairy Queen on Range Line Road will hold a party from 3 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28 to celebrate the Carmel High School Homecoming. There have been at least three generations of Carmel residents, primarily football fans, who have made DQ part of their annual Homecoming celebration. It’s a tradition many hold close to their hearts. As such, the City will work with contractors and make extra effort to accommodate the Homecoming crowds this Friday.
The Carmel Police Department will provide special traffic control for the parade of people around 3 p.m. and post-game migration up until 10 p.m. With assistance from CPD, alternating traffic will be managed north and south between the DQ drive and the Smokey Row roundabout, with an officer at each location switching traffic at their discretion.
Range Line Road is being rebuilt from 136th Street north to the entrance to Clay Terrace (under the U.S. 31 bridge). This is a much-needed project to resolve some flooding issues that were enhanced by the U.S. 31 project a few years ago. Rather than completely shutting the road down, the City has been maintaining a single lane of traffic, currently southbound out of Clay Terrace, so that businesses such as the Dairy Queen and others in the area could remain open.
There has been no northbound access off Range Line Road. That will change soon when half of the roadway is ready for traffic and the flow will switch to northbound until the project is completed, approximately by Thanksgiving.
This partnership will all take place a week after the City helped businesses on Old Meridian Street at Carmel Drive put on a Roundabout Midnight street party to celebrate the opening of that roundabout and also National Roundabout Week. The City was helping those businesses draw a few thousand people to their block so that they could give those businesses the boost they needed after that project.
The City tries to mitigate the impact of road projects, which includes posting “Business Open” signs at the entry point of every construction zone, as long as the roadway is open to those businesses. The City also looks for opportunities on social media to stress the importance of supporting local businesses.
Three years ago, when the City began an aggressive campaign to improve local roads and intersections, a full-time person in the Engineering Department was hired. The City wanted to provide someone dedicated to community outreach for businesses and residents when it comes to construction projects.