Indy Adds to its Multi-use Trails

While you probably weren’t looking, the city of Indianapolis increased total multiuse trail mileage by a little under two miles with a project on the near northside connected to the city’s newest park and one build in one of the city’s oldest parks. 

Reverend C. R. Williams Park

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Those who’ve ridden the Monon Trail in the past couple of months – and face it: who hasn’t? – might have noticed the ribbon of asphalt that has appeared along the north side of Sutherland Avenue. This short stretch is a spur that reaches to the newly built Reverend Charles R. Williams park at 32nd and Sutherland. Honoring the civic leader and former CEO of the Indiana Black Expo, the park has an amphitheater, playground, and other recreational areas. It also has a shelter for Monon users caught in the rain. And, like all but the largest Indy parks, it has no restroom facilities.

Click for larger image

Riverside Promenade

On the west side, the city cut the ribbon in October on about 1-1/3 miles of the Riverside Promenade, which runs along the west side of East Riverside Drive from 16th Street north before curving to follow 29th Street to the White River bridge (and, presumably, the White River-Wapahani Trail). The broad asphalt strip is punctuated at intervals by patterns painted on its surface and “nodes” with rest stops and interpretive signage. Trail users can access the Burdsall Parkway bike lanes and (sometimes) facilities at the recreation center.

Capital Avenue Bike Lane

On a similar topic, DPW continues to build a buffered bike lane along Capital from Fall Creek to 18th Street. The existing “dirty bike stripe” on the west edge of the street will be decommissioned and bikes will have a protected path on the east side. It isn’t striped yet, but appears to wide enough for a bidirectional lane similar to that on Illinois south of 18th. At the same time, a bike lane from the Monon to Capital along 22nd is taking shape, but the last blocks won’t be finished any time soon due to a giant hole created by every Indy resident’s favorite traffic hazard, DigIndy. Speaking of which, the detour on the Fall Creek Greenway trail between 32nd and 34th has been closed and the trail now follows its mapped route again. One has to wonder why, in a project that cost more than two billion dollars, the city couldn’t find an extra $25K to put some restrooms in that space.

Watch this space for more updates as the gummint infrastructure cash trickles down to reshape our streets…

copyright © 2023 scmrak

Hamilton County Opens Nickel Plate Trail from 96th Street to Noblesville

Hamilton County (Indiana) multiuse trail enthusiasts got another link in their network recently as the local government opened the southernmost section of the Nickel Plate Trail through southern Fishers. Clocking in at just over eight miles, the paved trail extends northward from a spot just north of 96th Street to Noblesville. The south end awaits construction of a safe crossing of 96th Street into Indianapolis, terminating behind a 24-hour veterinary clinic. At the north end, the trail slams head-on into the construction known as the Pleasant Street Reimagination. 

Nickel Plate Trail map (north to right)

EDITED 11/15/23: The trail now extends all the way through along 8th street, skirting roundabouts at Vine and Mulberry Streets. As of 7 November, the Midland Trace was still inaccessible; although the White River Trail was open as far south as Division Street. Construction continues. 

Fall Creek Greenway Trail Gets Bit Longer

New bridge over Fall Creek

It's common for cities to place multiuse trails alongside waterways – I rode many miles along the Platte River and its tributaries when I lived in Denver twenty-five (sigh) years ago; and even bike-hostile Houston boasts trails beside White, Bray's, and and Buffalo Bayous. Indy may be far behind cities like Minneapolis and Tucson, but (thanks to federal grants) we're catching up. In the past few years, a series of Fall Creek Greenway Trail extensions had reached the point where Fall Creek Boulevard disappears into Burdsall and the Creek bends sharply south toward its confluence with White River.

Within the past weeks, our fair city quietly finished another two or so miles of the trail, extending a paved surface (protected by a concrete curb) from where Burdsall crosses the canal to the intersection of 10th and Indiana. The construction includes a spanking new bridge across the creek near 18th Street and a crossing (with pedestrian walk light) at Aqueduct and 16th Streets.

I'm Not a Lawyer, but...

Update: as of August 1, 2023, the pipe and bridge have been removed.

 

...I'm going to suggest that this ramp isn't ADA-compliant.

I encountered these workers installing the ramp over an 18-inch pipe laid across the Fall Creek Greenway on June 28th. The work was going on about a quarter mile north/east of 39th Street (that's the parking lot of Pro-Strip, 4020 Millersville, in the background). I'll grant that, unlike the makeshift plywood ramps cobbled together by DigIndy contractors across the trail at sites near Central and Illinois Streets in recent years, the ramp is actually... semi-safe. It's constructed of metal mesh with handrails and doesn't have overly steep approaches.

Trail Updates and Down-Lows

You Shall Go No Further!

There’ve been interesting developments on the local multiuse trails of late, so here’s the latest that I know about. First, the Monon Rail Trail detour around the North Split construction is no more: traffic has resumed following the original pathway beneath I-65 to 10th Street, where you can connect with the easternmost leg of the Cultural Trail. In theory, you can connect with the Pogue’s Run trail too, though when I last went through, the sidewalk was mostly blocked by construction signs between the Monon and Dorman Street. The loop that runs alongside College is closed, though you can go west from the main trail.

Indy Ranks Low in Bike Survey (Again)

Gmap bike layer near Butler University

Welcome to bicycling Indy in the post-COVID era. Most of the tens of thousands of bicycles bought by people desperate to get outside during lockdown are collecting dust in garages or buried at the bottom of Craigslist, and local bike lanes and trails are once again quiet except on sunny weekend days. It’s time to see what the good people at People for Bikes think of Indy’s commitment to two-wheel transportation in their 2022 city rankings. 

Summed up in one word? Blechh. Here’s the tale of the tape:

Indy’s Six Most Dangerous Bike Trail Intersections: Number Six

After the untimely, senseless death of BGI mechanic Frank Radaker on the Monon Trail (October, 2021), some of the Indy bicycle community lobbied the city for changes that would make cycling in the city safer. To our uncertain knowledge, there has been a change. By “a change,” we mean just one: traffic engineers reprogrammed the pedestrian crossing lights at the Monon trail / 86th Street intersection where Radaker was killed; giving trail users a 10-second window when no motor vehicles have a green light. Now, if engineers could just reprogram those drivers who routinely ignore the “no turn on red” signs…

Indy’s Most Dangerous Bike Trail Intersections: Number Five

Following the untimely death of local bicycle icon Frank Radaker (October, 2021) at the Monon Trail where it crosses 86th Street, members of the cycling community lobbied Indy's government for changes to make cycling in the city safer. To our uncertain knowledge, there has been a change. By “a change,” we mean just the one: DPW reprogrammed the pedestrian crossing lights at site of Radaker's death; granting trail users a few seconds when no motor vehicles have a green light. Now, if they could just reprogram some drivers who routinely ignore the “no turn on red” signs…

Although it's certainly dangerous, in our opinion the intersection where Frank died is not the most dangerous intersection for Indianapolis cyclists, not even the most dangerous intersection of a trail and a street. Without further ado, here is our next nomination in our bottom six street crossings in Marion County…

Indy’s Most Dangerous Bike Trail Intersections: Number Four

After the senseless death of local cyclist Frank Radaker at Monon Trail and 86th Street (October, 2021), members of the Indy bicycle community asked Indy officials for changes to make cycling in the city safer. To our knowledge, there has been a change. By “a change,” we mean only one: traffic engineers reprogrammed the crossing lights for that one intersection; giving trail users a window of a few seconds while no motor vehicle lane has a green light. Now, if those engineers could just reprogram the drivers who ignore those highly visible “no turn on red” signs at the intersection…

Although it's certainly dangerous, in our opinion the intersection where Frank died is not the most dangerous street crossing in Indy, and not even the most dangerous intersection of a multi-use trail with a street. Without further ado, here is our next nomination for the bottom six street crossings in Marion County; the site where Radaker was killed…

Indy’s Most Dangerous Bike Trail Intersections: Number Three

After the death of a well-known local cyclist (October, 2021) where the Monon Trail crosses 86th Street, many within the cycling community called for changes to make improve the city's cycling safety. We've noticed that there's been a change, but not much of one: traffic engineers reprogrammed the pedestrian crossing lights at the intersection where he was killed to give trail users a 10-second window when no motor vehicles have a green light. Now, if engineers could just reprogram those drivers who routinely ignore the “no turn on red” signs…

Although it's certainly a dangerous crossing, in our opinion the intersection where he was killed is not the most dangerous in Indy for cyclists, not even the most dangerous intersection of a trail and a street. So without further ado, here is our next nomination within the bottom six street crossings in Marion County, number three…

Indy’s Most Dangerous Bike Trail Intersections: Number Two

After the death of a well-known local cyclist near the Monon Trail crossing at 86th Street (October, 2021), local cyclists could be seen calling for changes to make cycling in the Circle City safer. As far as we know, the sole change in response to their petition was for traffic engineers reprogram the pedestrian crossing lights at that intersection, which now allows trail users a 10-second window when none of the travel lanes for motor vehicles has a green light. Now, if engineers could just reprogram the drivers who routinely ignore the “no turn on red” signs…

Although decidedly dangerous, in our opinion the intersection where the man perished isn't the most dangerous bike crossing in Indy, not even the most dangerous intersection of a trail and a street. Without further ado, here is another in our nominations for the bottom six street crossings in Marion County…

Monon Trail Work Completed... Sort of

Well, it snowed yesterday, and that means – of course – that after eight long months, contractors have (finally) finished their work on the southern half of the Monon Trail in Marion County; the detour under the North Split not included. In other words, from 14th Street to the north entrance to Canterbury Park (about 56th Street), the pavement is finished. Every crossing has freshly painted crosswalk markings, and those irritating dropoffs where asphalt meets concrete at the street junctions are, at least for now, level and even. With the exception of a couple of spots where workers left tracked-vehicle ruts, the pavement is as smooth as a baby's behind.

Work Begins on Indy's Monon Rail Trail

Typical Monon detour

Get ready, Monon users, 'cause here it comes!

If you happened to brave the mid-March weather last week and put in a few miles on the Monon Trail, you might have noticed the signs posted at several locations along the southern portion of the trail. They mentioned that the trail would be closed for construction "on or after March 28th." They aren't kidding...

Indy's East-side Cyclists get More Options

Pennsy Trail signage

A blurb in the Indianapolis Star a few months ago mentioned that the Parks Department had closed a gap in the Pennsy Trail on the city's far east side. This rail-to-trail offering parallels the old National Road, aka US 40, also known as Washington Street. The Ms grew up in the Irvington neighborhood, so we thought it might be interesting to check out this new section of trail, which reaches from Post Road to Shortridge (the street, not the high school).

At its western end (as of this writing, anyway) the trail connects with the Pleasant Run Parkway multiuse trail at Ellenberger Park via a wide sidewalk along Ritter. After a little bit of twisting and turning along Bonna Avenue, the trail takes off, arrow straight, headed for Greenfield. Well, headed for Mt. Comfort Road, actually – more on that later.

Happy-happy, Joy-joy: the Monon's 38th Street Bridge is now open!

New Monon Trail bridge over 38th Street

 I kid you not: even though there are still detour signs on the north approach, you can happily ignore them: the multi-million-dollar Monon Trail bridge over 38th Street is now open. Unlike the 146th Street and IN 32 bridges in Hamilton County, the new bridge features shallow-angle approaches, with a gentle curve at both ends that allows the bridge to cross the street at a right angle. Mayor Hogsett cut a ribbon to open the bridge on Friday, March 12th. No word on whether he was riding his fat-tire bike at the time.

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).

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?

Indy Upgrades Illinois Street Bike Lane

Downtown Indy's new Illinois Street bike lane

I hadn't biked into downtown Indianapolis for a while, so when I turned the corner from Michigan onto northbound Illinois, I was astounded to see that the bike lane stripe at the right-hand side of the road had been scraped off, even though the "Bike Lane" signs were still up. It took a block or two before I noticed the bright green lane on the far side. Yep, Indy has (finally) moved into the '90s when it comes to bike lanes.

Hamilton County Opens New Section of Monon

What's arguably Indy's favorite multipurpose trail can now take cyclists (and hardy runners) almost all the way across Hamilton County as well as between Mass Ave and SoBro. On Wednesday,  county officials cut the ribbon on a newly-paved section some three miles long, giving users access to an off-street trail that now reaches all the way to the outskirts of Sheridan, nearly at the Hamilton-Boone County line.