As part of what appears to be an outreach effort on the part of INDOT, they are planning 3 statewide open houses to gather public input and comment on the development of a statewide rail plan. The outreach at it’s core is serving as their commitment to soliciting feedback from the public on what we …
One Morning’s Journey on Northstar Commuter Rail By Ben Houle Recently I stayed (with family) for a few days in Anoka, a northwest suburb about 20 miles outside of Minneapolis. As I had business in Minneapolis and no car to use, I took the opportunity to ride the new Northstar commuter rail line into town. A …
As a citizen of Indianapolis and a major supporter of mass transit, it should come as no surprise that I am always thinking about how we can pull off a successful light rail system. When I think about the key components that would create the best first step, there are many things to consider. First …
Recently, our regional transit authority CIRTA tweeted about Indiana’s Long Range Transportation Plan being open for public comment. The document that controls long term planning of the state’s transportation projects is a fiscally constrained plan of what our officials are moving forward with. I don’t intend to offer a full analysis here but a quick …
What started as a squeak in November has turned into a low roar. What is this low roar? The dying gasp of transit projects across the nation. In case you have not noticed, there is a bit of political turmoil going on here in America. It seems that no one is immune to the affects …
 When does perception become reality? When a preconceived notion trumps all logic and becomes the first thought associated with a specific topic. Why is it then, that “light rail” seems to be the favored quarter when it comes to alternative transportation modes?  Last week, I tackled the first half of why we perceive light rail to be …
By early spring, construction on the fully funded Cincinnati Streetcar will officially begin, starting an exciting chapter in that City’s urban core and charting a new course for urbanism in the Midwest. You would think this would be a time of celebration for Cincinnati as they have been fighting the good fight to bring rail …
Indiana House Bill 1354 was read on January 18th 2011. The bill as proposed would require INDOT to include “complete streets” guidelines into INDOT’s approved design manual. A summary of the bill, along with it’s travel through the legislature, can be read here. When I first read about this, I pumped my fist in the …
As I have posted about before, the Indianapolis MPO is in charge of transportation planning in our region. Their governing region extends into other counties around the region. A federally mandated charge of theirs, is to keep a long range plan on hand that fiscally constrains our region’s transportation expansion over a 20 to 25 …
Last week, I profiled 22nd Street and how the surrounding neighborhood is poised to benefit from the controversial NE Corridor line in Indianapolis planned in the Indyconnect proposal. This week, I will focus on the neighborhood roughly centered at 71st Street & Binford Blvd; the second area in my series of nodes along the line that fall within …