State Road 145 near Birdseye to close for culvert replacements through November
State Road 145 near Birdseye closed for three culvert replacements, cutting off the stretch between County Road West 900 South and East Borden Hill Road through November.
Drivers south of Birdseye are facing a months-long shutdown on State Road 145 as INDOT closes the corridor between County Road West 900 South and East Borden Hill Road to replace three box culverts. The closure affects a key route for commuters, school traffic, farm equipment and deliveries that use SR 145 to move between Birdseye, the interstate and nearby state highways.
The official detour sends traffic from Interstate 64 to State Road 37 and then to State Road 64. Local drivers will still be able to approach the work zone up to the point where the road is closed, but through traffic will be blocked while crews work through the project. INDOT says the closure is expected to last through the beginning of November, weather permitting, which makes this a long-term reroute rather than a short interruption.
Project documents place the work in Jefferson Township, about 3.01 to 3.4 miles north of I-64, over an unnamed tributary to the Anderson River. INDOT records also identify nearby small-structure replacement work on SR 145 under project numbers CV 145-019-20.56 and CV 145-019-20.88. One project sheet describes work about 3.88 miles north of the I-64 and SR 145 interchange that includes box-culvert extension, scour protection, shoulder reconstruction and mainline resurfacing, showing the closure is part of a broader effort to rebuild drainage and roadway structure in the corridor.
The impact is especially important in Dubois County, where SR 145 serves as a connector for daily travel and agricultural traffic. School buses, emergency vehicles and local deliveries will all have to work around the closure, and the detour will add time for anyone moving between Birdseye and the interstate. INDOT Hydraulic Engineering says it designs or reviews waterway projects, including culverts, bridges, storm sewers and detention ponds along state roads, which is why a replacement of this scale can require a full closure instead of a lane restriction.
The Birdseye stretch has seen this kind of disruption before. In September 2024, INDOT closed SR 145 near Birdseye for a small-structure replacement over the Anderson River about four miles north of I-64, with that job expected to last about three weeks. An earlier landslide near Birdseye also cracked and buckled the road and shut it down until further notice, underscoring how vulnerable this corridor is to drainage and slope problems. INDOT’s travel-conditions pages remain the agency’s official source for closures and restrictions, and this one will shape travel south of Birdseye well into the fall.
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