I’m heading down to Bloomington IN from Rockford IL.
I was given the directions to go to Indy via 74, 465 bypass around and then take 37 down to Bloomington. Google maps is showing a route going straight down from 74 on 231 and then 46. It’s around 25 miles shorter but I have no idea what kind of road that is.
I’ll be going thru there when it’s dark to so if it’s a really curvy and not well lit road it may be faster to do the bypass route, although 37 doesn’t look likes it’s any better.
Matt,
Back when I worked in Indy and lived in Bloomington, Hwy 37 was my commute…good road…couple of stop lights in some of the towns along the way but almost Interstate grade road…at least in my memory, Hwy 46 was more rural, two lane road and not nearly as “straight”…Hwy 37 by contrast was 4 lane all the way and much more “highway-like”…it’s been a while since I’ve made that trip so my .02 might be worth less than a penny…
37 is a four lane highway, but there are multiple stoplights on the way down–Martinsville & a few others—it isn’t a superhighway & it is a speed trap the entire way.
Down the 231 off the 74 is where I grew up—know that road like the back of my hand. Its semi-curvy above Greencastle (stop lights in Crawfordsville (10 min), and at the 36 (30 seconds), thru Greencastle (only 3—about 5 miles of slowing down to 30 mph, at the 40 (1 quicky), at Cloverdale/I70 (2, but slow down thru here), Spencer (1-2, both quick) & then a bit of a slowdown coming into Bloomington. It isn’t really treacherous, more whoop-de-whoops than curves—can only think of 5-6 sharp bends the entire way down.
Its probably 10-15 minutes quicker going the 231, but it isn’t as mindless and the stretch b/t Spencer & Bloomington can drag if you miss some lights. At night it is usually green most of the way. Just slow down coming into Cloverdale, Spencer & coming out of Crawfordsville.