Thanks to commenter Scott, I have become aware of a public meeting tonight at the Children’s Museum regarding new bicycle lanes. Â More information about upcoming meetings in the Mapleton Fall-Creek area can be found here.
Important Public Meeting
Wednesday, August 18 from 6pm – 7pm at The Children’s Museum Welcome Center
There will be a public meeting to discuss installing bike lanes on Illinois Street and Capital Avenue, from 16th Street to Westfield Boulevard. Representatives fromthe City of Indianapolis and Public Works will be on hand to present the plan.
It is so rewarding to see the city take advantage of its avenues and give cyclists space on the streets. Â Bike lanes on Illinois and Capital are quite logical, given their similarity to New York and Michigan on the east side. Â If you are able to attend this meeting, please mention this in the comments.
Mapleton Fall Creek is east of Meridian.
.
The three neighborhoods west of Meridian along Illinois and Capitol from 16th northward to 38th are (respectively):
.
Meridian Highland (Methodist vicinity) north to Fall Creek
.
Highland Vicinity (Ivy Tech area) north of the creek to 30th
.
Crown Hill (Children’s Museum/Crown Hill cemetery area) north from 30th to 38th.
.
North of 38th to Westfield Blvd. is Butler-Tarkington.
.
🙂
I hear ya, and I realized I was stretching the MFC boundary a bit. That link just happened to have other meetings that might be of interest here. Thank you.
So, that would be considered the SW side right Chris? :-p
I believe the Capitol bike lane is intended to mirror the Illinois lane all the way into downtown at New York St. The Illinois lane is already built from New York to 16th, so I assume it’s just a misprint about 16th St. being the southern terminus for Capitol. Sustain Indy shows Capitol going into downtown.
http://www.sustainindy.org/bikeways.cfm
I hope so, Chris. Capitol is way too wide and way too fast south of 12th. Though it might make sense to terminate that lane at The Cultural Trail.
So, when does the Southside get any bike lanes? Other than the Pleasant Run Trail and a few sidewalks there is little for a bicyclist to ride on down south without trying to kill oneself.
The 2-5 year plan on Sustain Indy has a planned bike lane from Shelby Street down Madison Avenue.
What’s amazing is that this city had no bike lanes just 3 years ago. Now we have people saying “what about us?” And rightfully so. That’s how stuff gets done. Keep pushing the city.
Good meeting last night. The lanes are planned for next spring. Seems that the design will be similar to the current bike lanes elsewhere with some incorporated lessons learned (e.g. thermoplastic instead of paint).
There were a few proponents, one very vocal opponent (from the “bike lanes make it less safe for cyclists” crowd), and a few calmer opponents. The cooler headed opponents had some legitimate feedback around chosen routes, safer, albeit more expensive, designs, and whether bike lanes are a priority when there are areas in dire need of traffic signals and street repair.
I believe the two representatives of the project did a good job of explaining the project and the reasons for the chosen design and route. Also, they explained that the $300,000 in funding is earmarked for bike lanes and could not be used for other projects, even if those other projects were higher priority.
Thanks for the report, Steve.
It is true that strip of paint or thermoplastic isn’t always enough to keep cyclists safe. But, from my understanding, the alternatives are either expensive separations, or the status quo. My position is that they are better than the status quo, simply because it makes more drivers aware of the cyclists’ space on the road, and that the cyclist will be able to have an obvious place to ride.
I live up by Geist, and contrary to those maps, there is no bike lane/trail of any sort up here. I’ve spent many years up wondering why there isn’t a trail/bike lane around the lake. I would LOVE to see one up here, as the hills around Geist make it a popular area for road bikers to get out on.
Apperently those are in the 2-5 year plan, so they aren’t built yet.