County Road 17 (CR 17) is a north–south county highway in Elkhart County, Indiana. It is currently undergoing improvements to become a four-lane divided road with non-limited traffic. CR 17 begins at the state line, connecting with state highway M-217 in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The roadway enters

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and becomes CR 17. Currently the improved section of CR 17 ends between CR 40 and CR 38 (CR 17 continues south in its original configuration, as part of Elkhart County's grid-numbered county road system, becoming North County Road 200 West at the

Kosciusko County Kosciusko County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. At the 2020 United States Census, its population was 80,240. The county seat (and only incorporated city) is Warsaw. The county was organized in 1836. It was named for the Polish ge ...

line).

Route description

CR 17 southern terminus is at the Kosciusko-Elkhart county line. From the southern terminus CR 17 heads due north, north of the southern terminus is US Highway 6 (US 6). Then north of US 6, CR 17 meets CR 40. North of CR 40, the road becomes a four-lane divided highway before CR 38. At CR 38, the route has a traffic light and curves to the northwest, followed by a traffic light at State Road 119 (SR 119). North of SR 119, the route curves due north and becomes limited accesses passing over CR 32 and CR 30. The highway has a traffic light at CR 28, CR 28 links CR 17 and US 33. After CR 28 is a traffic light with Rieth Boulevard, which also provides access to US 33. North of CR 28, the route passes over US 33 and the

Norfolk Southern Railroad The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

tracks. After the bridge is a traffic light with an access road to CR 45, followed by a bridge over CR 45 and the

Elkhart River The Elkhart River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 19, 2011 tributary of the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana in the United States. It is almost entirely c ...

. After the river the road passes under CR 26. East of Elkhart CR 17 has an interchange with US 20 and an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

with SR 120. Then in northeast Elkhart, CR 17 has an interchange with I-80/I-90 (Indiana Toll Road). The portion of CR 17 north of the Indiana Toll Road, along with M-217, is known as the Michiana Parkway. The northern terminus is north of the Indiana Toll Road at the Michigan State Line.

History

The planning for CR 17 goes back to the 1960s when the state of Indiana planned a bypass of US 33 around the southwest side of Goshen; this project was never built. In the 1980s, a plan to connect the Indiana Toll Road with the east side of Elkhart was proposed. The project involved replacing some of Elkhart County Road 6. When the project on CR 6 was completed, a need for a north-south corridor in Elkhart County became a problem. Elkhart County chose Elkhart County Road 17 to be the north-south corridor. The first section opened in the 1990s near the Michigan state line, while the section near US 33 opened in 2005. The stretch of road connecting these areas was then completed in sections. In October 2012, the new four-lane divided highway opened to traffic from just north of CR 40 to CR 28. The old two-lane highway between CR 38 and CR 18 is now known as Old CR 17. The portion of CR 17 between US 20 and the Indiana Toll Road ( I-80/

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

) was in the past part of the National Highway System, the only county highway in Indiana on the system.

Future

The plans are to continue the upgrade of CR 17 south to US 6.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=inline,title
County Road #17 Corridor
(Elkhart County Highway Department)
Indiana Highway Ends - Elkhart County Road 17
Transportation in Elkhart County, Indiana Roads in Indiana Transportation in Elkhart, Indiana