This is the second post in a series on sidewalks or pathways that exist in places where no car traffic can travel. The first post can be found here.
The next link in this series was actually mentioned to me in the comments of the first post. It is just one block long, and connects Sanders Street with Morris Street, right next to I-65. I only took 2 photos of this one, although one of them features an interesting mural. There will be another, longer post up soon of one of my old favorite pathways.
Thanks Kevin. Does the evidence suggest that this was another path constructed during the installation of I-65? Is there any logical reason the path might have existed beforehand?
I should have shown what the area used to look like before the interstate. This path was definitely put in along with I-65. Here is how this neighborhood looked in 1956. It’s unrecognizable now.
In other words, it was basically as dense as German Village in Columbus.
…and some of that was knocked down for I-70 also. The old German Lutheran church where my grandmother went still sits on the north edge of the ROW, separated from the remainder of German Village.
But I think the interstate swath in Columbus seems somewhat more limited. Its current expansion (ODOT is widening the shared 70/71 leg) seems to be chewing a bit off downtown rather than German Village.
So I had to check. Courtesy of Google Maps: at 3rd St. in Columbus, the ROW of I-70 measures a little over 300 ft. from the curb of Fulton St. (north edge) to the curb of Livingston Ave. (south edge).
At Morris/Prospect in Indianapolis, the ROW measures over 750 feet from this remnant sidewalk over to Leonard St. in Fountain Square on the other side.
I get that it’s not a totally fair comparison since Morris/Prospect is actually over part of the south split in Indy; the comparable crossing in Columbus is Parsons Ave. by Nationwide Children’s Hospital (their east split) and that’s almost a quarter mile over the interchange.
Downtown interstates were definitely a mixed blessing, and it’s a complicated topic. The highways killed a lot of close neighborhoods, but also made possible the redevelopment and growth from the 1990s to today in both cities by accommodating suburban commuters who might otherwise have moved their offices to the exurban fringe.