Final Section of Fall Creek Trail Nears Completion

New section of Fall Creek Greenway Trail, Indianapolis

About twenty years after the first asphalt was laid in the hike-and-bike trail along Indy's Fall Creek, the Indianapolis Parks Department has (almost) completed the path. In the last year, the city has re-aligned and repaved the trail from 56th Street to Binford Boulevard, and (finally) provided a way across 38th Street that did not involve the sidewalk of the roadway's bridge. As of the past few weeks, the city has also extended the trail from 25th and Meridian to the western end of Fall Creek Boulevard where it becomes Burdsall Parkway.

Fall Creek Trail Repaving Complete

re-aligned and repaved section of
Fall Creek Trail

It took a couple of months, but the re-alignment and repaving of the eastern section of the Fall Creek Trail is finally complete (well, except for about 450 feet of top coat at the western end). Yes, fellow cyclists, you can now make the six-mile trip from the walk-through gate at Fort Harrison State Park to 38th Street with exactly one street crossing at the very beginning (Boy Scout Road).

Edco Construction stripped out the narrow, lumpy pavement along the length of the trail from Fall Creek Parkway and  Kessler to the parking area at Binford before laying all-new asphalt. It's wide and smooth now, a welcome change from the pavement that was in such poor condition that cyclists took to Fall Creek Parkway (where the pavement is in no better condition, come to think of it).

Work Continues on Fall Creek Greenway Trail

Updated June 29 (see below):

Trail users on the northeast side of town have long bemoaned the condition of the paved trail in the Fall Creek Greenway, which is supposed to (eventually) stretch from near downtown all the way to Geist Reservoir. At present, the trail starts somewhere around Fall Creek and Illinois and continues to the west entrance of Fort Harrison State Park in Lawrence Township, some ten miles interrupted by a death-trap crossing at 38th Street.

Good News, Bad News on Westfield Bridge

Updated: 

Some time around Memorial Day, Westfield opened the bridge to traffic. Two things to know:

• There's a road (access to restaurants?) that crosses the south approach. I'll just say that it's "inconvenient" amd leave it at that. Southbound riders be aware.
• The surface is not particularly smooth.

Artist's conception, Westfield's Monon bridge

A Monon Bridge over 38th Street... Finally

Mayor Hogsett's bike

Indy's been promising for years to build a bridge over 38th Street for people using the Monon Trail. The trail crossing at the southwest corner of the State Fairgrounds has long been considered a "deathtrap," as cyclists, joggers, and walkers were forced to cross six lanes of traffic on one of the north side's most heavily traveled cross-town throughways. Construction began in March, 2020, on  a $5.5 million¹, seventeen-foot-tall pedestrian bridge, which — if progress on Westfield's bridge over SH 32 is any indication — should be finished some time in 2021. Or maybe 2022.

Not bad for a feature that's been promised since 2015, eh?