The Indianapolis Metropolitan Organization has awarded $59 million towards 30 transportation initiatives in the Central Indiana Region. There are some interesting points to make here. First, the list:
| Local Public Agency | Project | Project Type | Funds Awarded |
| Avon | School Zone Flashing Beacons | Safety Upgrade | $133,680
|
| Bargersville | Signal Pre-emption | Signal – Other | $143,502 |
| Brownsburg | Green Street & Airport Road Roundabout | Intersection | $1,809,000 |
| Brownsburg | E. CR 700 N Reconstruction | Roadway Reconstruction | $3,894,300 |
| Carmel | 116th Street & Guilford Road Roundabout | Intersection | $1,523,200 |
| Carmel | 116th Street & College Avenue Roundabout | Intersection | $2,105,600 |
| Fishers | Southeastern Parkway & Cyntheanne Road Roundabout | Intersection | $2,261,250 |
| Fishers | Geist Greenway – Phase 1B | Pedestrian Enhancement | $1,520,600 |
| Greenwood | Main Street & Meadowview Roundabout | Intersection | $740,700 |
| Hamilton County | 191st Street & Grassy Branch Road Roundabout | Intersection | $2,196,000 |
| Hancock County | Pennsy Trail from CR 400 W to CR 500 W | Bicycle Enhancement | $560,000 |
| Indianapolis | Mann Road & Southport Road Intersection Improvement | Intersection | $538,263 |
| Indianapolis | 16th Street over Little Eagle Creek | Bridge Rehabilitation | $976,500 |
| Indianapolis | 30th Street over White River | Bridge Rehabilitation | $6,502,500 |
| Indianapolis | Washington Street over Big Eagle Creek | Bridge Rehabilitation | $1,881,000 |
| Indianapolis | Safe Routes to Transit South – Improvements for bicycles and pedestrians within a half mile of Red Line stops between Lawrence Ave. and 25th St.
|
Pedestrian Enhancement | $3,234,938 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 3 — West 34thand 38th St. near Moller and High School Rd.
|
Pedestrian Enhancement | $1,414,463 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 5 — East 38thStreet from Fall Creek Parkway to Sherman Drive
|
Pedestrian Enhancement | $534,060 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 9 — North Illinois and Meridian St. from 14th Street to 34th St. | Pedestrian Enhancement | $889,988 |
| Indianapolis | White River and 10th Street Connection | Bicycle Enhancement | $796,800 |
| Indianapolis | Bikeshare Expansion (up to 30 new stations and 250 new bikes) | Bicycle Enhancement | $960,000 |
| Indianapolis | Knozone Awareness Program | Planning | $320,000 |
| Indianapolis | Emerson Avenue Widening (from Stop 11 Road to Southport Crossing)* | Existing Roadway Capacity Improvement | $6,240,506 |
| IndyGo | Bus Replacement | Transit enhancement capital project | $4,867,537 |
| Lawrence | Amy Beverland School Sidewalk Connection | Pedestrian Enhancement | $1,824,300 |
| New Palestine | CR 300 S and Gem Road Roundabout | Intersection | $900,000 |
| Noblesville | Allisonville Road Multi-use Path | Pedestrian Enhancement | $2,161,258 |
| Speedway | Crawfordsville Road Turn Lane Addition | Intersection | $74,196 |
| Westfield | 161st Street & Union Street Roundabout | Intersection | $2,268,000 |
| Westfield | East Street North Extension* | New roadway construction | $5,512,500 |
| Â | Â | TOTAL AMOUNT | $58,817,073 |
Now, let’s focus on the proposals for Marion County:
| Indianapolis | Mann Road & Southport Road Intersection Improvement | Intersection | $538,263 |
| Indianapolis | 16th Street over Little Eagle Creek | Bridge Rehabilitation | $976,500 |
| Indianapolis | 30th Street over White River | Bridge Rehabilitation | $6,502,500 |
| Indianapolis | Washington Street over Big Eagle Creek | Bridge Rehabilitation | $1,881,000 |
| Indianapolis | Safe Routes to Transit South – Improvements for bicycles and pedestrians within a half mile of Red Line stops between Lawrence Ave. and 25th St.
|
Pedestrian Enhancement | $3,234,938 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 3 — West 34thand 38th St. near Moller and High School Rd.
|
Pedestrian Enhancement | $1,414,463 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 5 — East 38thStreet from Fall Creek Parkway to Sherman Drive
|
Pedestrian Enhancement | $534,060 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 9 — North Illinois and Meridian St. from 14th Street to 34th St. | Pedestrian Enhancement | $889,988 |
| Indianapolis | White River and 10th Street Connection | Bicycle Enhancement | $796,800 |
| Indianapolis | Bikeshare Expansion (up to 30 new stations and 250 new bikes) | Bicycle Enhancement | $960,000 |
| Indianapolis | Knozone Awareness Program | Planning | $320,000 |
| Indianapolis | Emerson Avenue Widening (from Stop 11 Road to Southport Crossing)* | Existing Roadway Capacity Improvement | $6,240,506 |
| IndyGo | Bus Replacement | Transit enhancement capital project | $4,867,537 |
| Lawrence | Amy Beverland School Sidewalk Connection | Pedestrian Enhancement | $1,824,300 |
| Speedway | Crawfordsville Road Turn Lane Addition | Intersection | $74,196 |
For all of Marion County, I see only 3 obviously concerning projects from an urbanist’s perspective. I’ll start with those:
| Indianapolis | Mann Road & Southport Road Intersection Improvement | Intersection | $538,263 |
Intersection improvement in MPO or DPW lingo almost always means widening and increased turn radii. This invariably means that it will be more difficult to cross or traverse the street on foot. This area is quite suburban, and those places seem to only get more auto friendly over time, unless we finally choose to take a different path. Improvement in this case can also mean that they’re going to add sidewalks and crosswalks, but they will be less likely to actually be used.
| Indianapolis | Emerson Avenue Widening (from Stop 11 Road to Southport Crossing)* | Existing Roadway Capacity Improvement | $6,240,506 |
This one comes right out and says it. More road capacity, more pavement to maintain in the future, increased severity of auto accidents, etc.
| Speedway | Crawfordsville Road Turn Lane Addition | Intersection | $74,196 |
Same as above, but this time it says it’s an addition and not an improvement.
Ok, now to the positive stuff:
| Indianapolis | Safe Routes to Transit South – Improvements for bicycles and pedestrians within a half mile of Red Line stops between Lawrence Ave. and 25th St. | Pedestrian Enhancement | $3,234,938 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 3 — West 34thand 38th St. near Moller and High School Rd. | Pedestrian Enhancement | $1,414,463 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 5 — East 38thStreet from Fall Creek Parkway to Sherman Drive | Pedestrian Enhancement | $534,060 |
| Indianapolis | Pedestrian Crash Focus Area 9 — North Illinois and Meridian St. from 14th Street to 34th St. | Pedestrian Enhancement | $889,988 |
| Indianapolis | White River and 10th Street Connection | Bicycle Enhancement | $796,800 |
| Indianapolis | Bikeshare Expansion (up to 30 new stations and 250 new bikes) | Bicycle Enhancement | $960,000 |
| Indianapolis | Knozone Awareness Program | Planning | $320,000 |
Some interesting stuff here. Bike Share expansion is good. The Safe routes to transit initiative sounds great. The Pedestrian Crash Focus areas sounds like something that has come out of the Walkways project. The White River Parkway expansion will likely used be mostly for recreation. Not a bad thing, but not likely to be a part of the multimodal network.
| IndyGo | Bus Replacement | Transit enhancement capital project | $4,867,537 |
This is necessary, our bus fleet is embarrassingly old.
Overall, I’m relatively pleased with the focus of the MPO within Marion County. These lists used to be inverted, with the car-based stuff taking up the bulk of the projects. Of course, we still have to look at the numbers. One road widening in south suburban Marion County takes up almost as much money as all of the interesting multimodal projects within the city.
I really hope they expand the bike share program up into the north side to Broad Ripple. Not only is the area fairly conducive to bike share itself, but the Red Line will be perfect for them. Bike share is a perfect “last mile” solution in larger urban areas. 1 mile to the transit stop and 1 mile to your work could had 30-40 minutes onto your commuter but that could be cut down to 10 min fairly easily. Riding your own bike is always an option but for short distances and the logistics of either carrying or storing your bike all day even an avid bike commuter like me would opt for a bike share.