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?

The bridge is part of an improvement program that is supposed to reach the length of the Monon in Marion County, including widening the trail by up to four feet. Trail users are probably familiar with the cement "plugs" north of Broad Ripple where the asphalt was cored a couple of years ago; testing the asphalt thickness and composition of the substrate.

Monon detour 2020

The structure is planned to be some three blocks long, spanning from south of 37th (or where 37th would be) to north of 39th. During construction, the trail is closed between 40th Street and the south edge of the Fairgrounds parking lot, Trail users must follow a detour (see map to left) that uses Winthrop St. north of 38th and a paved parking area south of 38th. The center lane of 38th is marked off with reflective bollards to create a safe space for trail users who must pause halfway across.

As is typical of hike-and-bike infrastructure in Indy, the powers that be apparently think everyone rides the same kind of bicycle as the mayor (see image above). Winthrop Street's pavement is pretty awful (it appears to have last been paved in the '80s or so), and there are two short lengths of loose gravel. All traffic also passes through a narrow gate at the north end of the detour where 40th Street dead-ends against the trail.

No matter how clumsy the detour — and it is undeniably second-rate — removing a dangerous at-grade trail crossing on a scary street is, as Martha Stewart might say, "A darned good thing."

¹ We've seen estimates ranging from $4 to $7 million; $5.5 seems about average.

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