Interstate pond question

[phylodog]

I've always wondered about the ponds you see near many of the interstate overpasses throughout Indiana. I always assumed they were dug, and the soil used to build up the grade for the overpass and a lot of them appear to have been sold off as residential lots with houses built on them.

Anyone ever live in one of them or know someone who did? Just curiosity on my part, I've always wondered if they made for good, long term fishing ponds. There's currently a 47acre lot like this for sale off of I 69 which got me wondering.

 

[Brandon]

Just add water boats was dug for the 465/washington street bridge.

From what ive been told. Also been told one end is extremely deep.

 

[ISP 5353]

I have fished a few of those ponds and usually had very good luck!

 

[Farmerjon]

A lot of times there will be two or three ponds to make the overpass. Know of one that supposedly there was collusion and only one large deep sculpted pond was dug. Great fishing is what is reported.

 

[Creedmoor]

My Dad always called them borrow pits.

 

[KokomoDave]

The 47 acre pond off of I69 has always called to me. I fished it a couple years back when the VFW still owned it. It was fun but a pond craft aka bass buggy with a trolling motor and you could sneak up on all kinds of fun. The building is gone and I bet that place is worth a couple dollars!

 

[Brandon]

My Dad always called them borrow pits.

Bringing back civil engineering nightmares. Thanks.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

We used to go shooting back by the ones near 465 between Bluff Rd. and Harding St./37 when I was a kid, but never fished them.

 

[snorko]

Most commonly the state will acquire the right to dig the dirt along with any land they need in fee for the construction. Sometimes they acquire a small piece in fee, dig the dirt they need, then sell the land after. At that pint it is basically an uneconomic remnant, not good for much except recreation and holding the world together.

 

[snapping turtle]

Some of those ponds have filled in since I-69 was built. Most are just holes with no water in (stream) and no water out (dam with pipe) the couple I goose hunt around are about 4-6 feet max depth. Then again one further north has a ditch in and a ditch out and is about 20 feet deep.

 

[canebreaker]

I see people fishing the ones along I-40 in AR, Don't know what they catch if any.

 

[Tactically Fat]

They are indeed almost always roadway construction-related borrow pits.

Soils surveys are taken ahead of construction projects in order to determine and map out what kind of soils/rock lies beneath and/or nearby the place the projects are to take place.

Construction projects need specific types of soils for their projects (based on particle size, shape, and ratios of sand, silt, and clay). These soil surveys will often reveal "lenses" of useful-to-construction soils. Said soil can then be obtained / excavated and then utilized in the "fill" portions of construction.

Signed,

Former sub-surface soil & rock investigation guy

 

[armalitesheepdog]

We used to go shooting back by the ones near 465 between Bluff Rd. and Harding St./37 when I was a kid, but never fished them.

Egads.......Kids with guns shooting...at.. a pond no less. Im shocked. And no one was killed or injured ..Amazing. you should have been inside on the internet where its safe. ....lol assuming there was internet when you were a kid.

Sarcasm aside. I miss the pre internet cell phone days where you and your buddies met up in the morning and came home when the sun was setting after a day of outdoor fun. Sunburns and bee stings bruises and even some stitches. Thats what made us Men

 

[Mij]

A lot of these ponds are now privately owned or reverted back to original ownership after construction. Depends on original contract. Most are then stocked as per IDNR investigation. They are mostly still in the Right of Way Easement. Still permission is needed for trespass. Ask the land owner. Some charge a fee. Some don’t allow any trespass due to liability or trash thrown about. The ones you see that are dried up are failed reconstruction, it happens no matter how much remedial work is done. Almost all are or were good fishing. Some use them as breeding ponds (unofficially) for specific fish, catfish for instance. Never park on the interstate to access, that will get you a ticket and possibly towed.