Indy's Monon Trail: Love It? or Hate It...

If you live anywhere near Indianapolis you know about the city's Monon Trail, even if you haven’t ridden a bicycle in thirty years – maybe even fifty years. It’s that rails-to-trails project that follows the abandoned Monon Railroad tracks from just east of where Mass Ave meets 10th Street downtown to a current terminus in northern Hamilton County. As of this writing, it’s officially 19-plus miles long, ending near IN 32 and US 31 in Westfield. A bit more than ten miles of the Monon are in Marion County, where the trail is generally considered the jewel of Indy’s bike paths. Some local cyclists, however, say it's a rhinestone at best.

Here are some reasons to avoid the Monon

Safety: Between the south end and where the trail crosses White River north of Broad Ripple, there are at least twenty at-grade street crossings, ranging from sleepy 17th Street to six lanes of fast-moving traffic at 38th Street. That includes a bizarre three-corner crossing of Westfield and Riviera in downtown Broad Ripple. Cyclists and pedestrians are routinely struck or just missed in many of the crossings, which are marked simply by signs saying “Pedestrian Crossing” and “Monon Trail,” plus the occasional blinking yellow light. Only Kessler Boulevard and Fairfield Avenue rate bridge crossings, which use former Monon railroad bridges. Besides the ever-present danger of car-bike accidents (there are already ghost bikes at 20th and 75th), stopping for a street every two blocks plays hell with your average speed…

There's an equally frustrating set of street crossings in downtown Carmel, with three street crossings in 1/8 mile including very heavy Main Street traffic. Amenities: Although water and bathrooms are more common in Hamilton County (starting with a  nicely-appointed rest station where the trail crosses 96th Street), trail users coming from downtown will not find water along the trail until the entrance to the Deaf School at 42nd Street (3.6 miles) and won’t find a public restroom until Canterbury Park at 56th Street (5.2 miles). A few bike repair stations are scattered along the trail (e.g., at 52nd Street and the Fall Creek bridge), but the tools and pump have often been stripped or destroyed. Emergency telephone stations can be found at regular intervals south of 38th Street.

Hanging a little over the center line, Blondie?

Traffic: It goes without saying that any cyclist hoping to make good time should avoid the trail on weekends and around lunchtime. Through SoBro and Broad Ripple the trail is crowded with pedestrians, some of whom walk in groups of four or five abreast. Children and, to a lesser extent, dogs often dart into the path of unwary cyclists. You need to be especially wary around venues like Broad Ripple Ice Cream Station, where BRICS patrons have been seen wandering blindly around the path nursing their ice cream headaches.

Some people absolutely love the trail

Long open stretches can be found, if that’s your bag. Take, for instance, the wooded trail adjoining Marott Park and the Blind School north of Broad Ripple, with only a stoplight-controlled crossing at 75th Street to break up the 2¾ miles between 65th and 86th Streets. Up in Carmel, busy street crossings are made safer by bridges (Carmel and City Center Drives) or underpasses (116th, Meridian, and 146th). There's also park access along or near the trail for much of its length (Canterbury, Broad Ripple, and Quaker Parks).

Ice cream riders really have no excuse not to stop at BRICS, and restaurants can be found at almost every street crossing between 52nd and White River, with dozens easily accessible in the Broad Ripple area – though there are far fewer in the industrial sector between 10th and 38th. Speaking of industrial areas; if you like the smell of heated wood, Wooley Lumber’s kilns at 30th Street will warm the cockles of your heart. Local art abounds in the murals on trail-side buildings between 52nd and 54th, as well as lots of unusual backyard art in trail-side homes. Jordan YMCA users enjoy an easy-access entrance to the trail at about 82nd Street.

The bottom line

Overall, the trail is well cared-for – better than the city’s streets a lot of the time. It’s so well cared-for that other trails in the city suffer greatly by comparison: ride the Fall Creek Trail some time and you’ll probably find fallen limbs and low-hanging vines, even in the sections that are passable (which rules out much of the section between 56th and Keystone). After the same storm, the Monon is quickly swept of fallen twigs and leaves like a street in Singapore.

One thing that bothers me as both a cyclist and a driver… after a “young girl” was struck by a car at the 111th Street-Monon crossing, the Indianapolis Star said,

“The intersection is marked as a crosswalk with yellow flashing lights with a pedestrian-crossing sign. Once pedestrians or bicyclists stop, determine it's safe to cross and proceed into the crosswalk, they have the right of way under state law. Traffic must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks by slowing down or stopping.”

From long experience, I’m aware that many drivers are unaware of that section of the traffic code; and a frightening few are “aggressively” ignorant. Given the popularity of this trail and the dangers to its users from inattentive drivers, why Indianapolis refuses to use traffic signs such as the one shown at right at the Monon (and other at-grade crossings) remains a mystery to me.

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