Back in March we reported that construction was underway on the Fall Creek Trail extension from the intersection of the Monon Trail, southward. I am happy to bring to you some updated photos from those efforts. The photos for this post were taken where the trail will intersect at the Monon Trail. Next time, I will highlight efforts further south of here.
As you can see from the photos, the trail will pass underneath of the large red bridge and meet the existing Fall Creek Trail near where the ramp up to the Monon begins. This will provide a seamless link for users travelling from points north on the Fall Creek Trail, but will require a bit of a hairpin turn for Monon Trail users. That should not serve as a barrier to usage however.
With a completion date scheduled for January sometime (but a goal of November), it looks like the contractor is well on their way to meeting that timeline. We will bring you an update with photos further south next time.
Cannot wait to ride this!
Personally, I love seeing the new trail being built at the north end. It will be really nice to be able exit out of Ft. Ben right onto FCT without having ride on Fall Creek Rd or cross Shadeland.
Google Maps has the ride from Ivy Tech-Indianapolis (actually, Kessler Park at 25th & Meridian) to Ivy Tech Lawrence (59th & Wheeler Road) as 11.3 miles.
It will be all within Marion County, all on bike path, protected roadway (part of the route in the State Park), or multi-use path, and with only a handful of street crossings (Central, College, 38th, Post, Wheeler).
That’s a far longer uninterrupted ride than the Monon provides, with far nicer scenery (since it is a Kessler path along a river through parkland, instead of a narrow rail trail corridor).
Best of all, Triton Brewing Co. is at the north end of the ride. Come on out to Lawrence, everyone! 🙂
(This unpaid plug brought to you by your friends a Lawrence Community Development Corp.)
This is great news and a welcome addition to the City’s growing network of bike/ped infrastructure. At the recent IndyGreenways meeting I heard that work on the Eagle Creek trail will begin to connect downtown to the City’s largest park. This countywide connectivity network is a long time coming.
Are they doing anything at 38th Street? Riding on that tiny, glass filled sidewalk to get to the unlighted crossing is no fun at all.
Dan, not presently, but there is a longer-range plan to move the trail to the 39th Street bridge. All it needs is money; creating a trail on the west side of the creek from 39th to 38th is a non-trivial exercise.
Multi-use paths and greenways in these areas are, in my opinion, where they’re needed most. Even though the speed limit is 35MPH on Fall Creek, people (yes, myself included) drive live maniacs on it and I don’t personally believe it is safe to bike on.