First, the good news: The Red Line has made the DOT’s budget proposal that will go before congress this year. If all goes well, construction could start next year on the first all-electric Bus Rapid Transit program in the country. This is big. Naturally, there has a been a bit of pushback about this plan. …
This is the first post in what I hope will become a somewhat regular feature on Urban Indy. A few months ago, my coworker found this sketch of a proposed downtown canal extension, along with a Convention Center. In addition, there would be brick pavers all the way to the State Capital building from Monument Circle, and …
Recently, the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Hamilton County Blog has posted about troubles for the Village of West Clay’s retail area. I’ve always been fascinated by this development, as it was the first greenfield development in Central Indiana that attempted to form a traditional town center under the guise of New Urbanism. Here’s the layout as …
I last posted this article in 2012 for the Super Bowl. I was amazed at how much has changed since then. Most of the text will be the same, but I’ll update links and add new options as needed. I’ve also deleted out much of the information that applied to visitors, this edition of the …
Walkable cities contribute to people’s overall health, safety, and quality of life. This study prioritizes missing pedestrian walkways to help identify where investment should be focused in Indianapolis. Although it has some very walkable areas of town, overall Indy ranks low in nationwide surveys of walkability (Walkscore.com). Recent efforts are underway in Indianapolis to enhance walkability, …
Last evening, IndyGo released a Google Map enabled view of their detailed plans for the proposed Red Line Bus Rapid Transit route. There are a lot of interesting features included, which will be featured in this post from North to South: North turnaround at 66th and College: Any bus transit line will usually have an …
This the follow-up post from the one I wrote on October 22nd. Indianapolis doesn’t have a lot of money to throw around at our various issues, and that money may be dwindling as I type. My number one money saving idea is simple: No more widened roads in the name of “improvement“. The phrase “If …
Marion County is approaching full development. Sure, there will be pockets of empty fields and wooded lots here and there, but the large swaths of this type of land are basically relegated to Warren, Decatur and Franklin townships. Here’s a look at the wooded lots and crop fields that have been mapped in 2015: I combined these …
The Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission staff reports usually make for interesting viewing for people interested in urban infill proposals coming through the city. The latest one features at least 3 projects of interest to Urban Indy. Ransom Place: A reprisal of the development that I reported on during our last IHPC quick hits post, the proposal …
According to Health by Design’s Kim Irwin, Indianapolis is the largest city in the country without a formalized Pedestrian Plan. Recently, the group has announced a new initiative called Walkways, which officially launches next Wednesday. A summary of the event is shown below: I hope to be able to attend the event next week to …