By Daily News staff, with original reporting by Patty Keaton Parks
ARCADIA — Wilson Farm Market is still open for business, but drivers can no longer turn directly off U.S. 31 to reach it.
The Indiana Department of Transportation has closed direct access between 256th Street and U.S. 31 in northern Hamilton County. The project that once threatened the market itself now reaches its final stages.
Corridor traffic alerts now list East 256th Street as closed at U.S. 31 near Arcadia and direct drivers to the interchanges at 236th and 276th streets instead. An aerial image supplied for this report shows a newly paved turnaround dead-ending 256th Street beside the market, with no direct road connection to the highway visible.
The market, at 1720 E. 256th St. in Arcadia, has operated at the corner of U.S. 31 and 256th Street since 1968 and is run by third-generation owner Scott Wilson. The store sells deli meats and cheeses, bakery goods, produce and other farm-market items and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to its website.https://wilsonfarmmarket.com.
The closure is the latest chapter in a years-long dispute between the Wilsons and INDOT. In 2023, the agency moved to acquire the property through eminent domain and demolish the building to make room for a cul-de-sac as part of the limited-access project, which converts roughly 7.5 miles of U.S. 31 between State Road 38 and 286th Street into a free-flow corridor. In October 2023, INDOT abandoned its plan to acquire and demolish the market and revised the cul-de-sac design to avoid the building after public opposition that included a petition with nearly 1,500 signatures.
But the project still ends 256th Street at the highway, and INDOT has said an interchange there is off the table. Agency spokesperson Jordan Yaney told WRTV last year that an overpass costs about $10 million and a full interchange about $50 million. “It’s just not feasible to put a full interchange at every single intersection on 31 in that stretch,” Yaney said.
INDOT has pointed to safety as the project’s justification, citing a study showing 432 crashes on an eight-mile stretch of U.S. 31 between 2014 and 2020, most of them near intersections.
Wilson, who lobbied instead for an interchange at 256th Street, has said the closure’s real costs fall on the surrounding rural community. “It was never actually about the business — everything from field fires to ambulance runs,” Wilson told WRTV, citing concerns about emergency response times and access to Hamilton Heights schools six miles east. Jackson Township Fire Chief James Carter told WRTV his department has been preparing for the change but acknowledged it will create “some struggles.”
Wilson has said he plans to keep the market open during and after construction.
New route to Wilson Farm Market
The market’s address for GPS is 1720 E. 256th St., Arcadia, IN 46030.
Northbound on U.S. 31: Take Exit 138 (236th Street) and head east on 236th Street to Anthony Road. Turn north on Anthony Road to 256th Street, then turn west toward the market. Follow the Wilson signs.
Southbound on U.S. 31: Take Exit 142 (276th Street) and head east on 276th Street to Anthony Road. Turn south on Anthony Road to 256th Street, then turn west toward the market.
Under the project schedule, cul-de-sac construction is the final phase of the corridor work, with completion scheduled for this year.
Photo caption: An aerial image shows Wilson Farm Market beside the 256th Street turnaround near U.S. 31 in northern Hamilton County.
