Indianapolis shares plan to slow down Madison Avenue traffic, add south side bicycle path
Moments before Indianapolis city leaders spoke Monday to highlight $47 million in construction to slow down traffic and add a greenway path along Madison Avenue, first responders were still cleaning up debris from a nearby car crash on the six-lane south side thoroughfare.
Residents constantly tell Kristin Jones, the area's Indianapolis City-County Council representative, that the road is too dangerous. Monday's crash before the event in Hendricks Park was a case in point, Jones said.
"Please fix Madison Avenue," was the message Jones relayed from her constituents Monday. "Something needs to be done."
Starting in spring 2025, the city will heed calls to fix the road that's outlived its use as a former expressway but still lures high-speed traffic and drag racing to the south side.
The city plans a Madison Avenue "road diet" to remove two lanes covering more than three miles of roadway from Ray Street, near Eli Lilly's corporate headquarters, down to Hanna Avenue, near the University of Indianapolis. The narrower four-lane roadway, in addition to new sidewalks and curbs, aims to calm traffic and improve pedestrian safety.
In the section closest to downtown, one lane will be replaced with the roughly 1.3-mile start of the new Interurban Trail, a greenway path which the city eventually plans to extend south more than eight miles to Johnson County. The trail's first section will be finished by 2026, officials say, but its expansion will depend on how soon more money is available.
Madison Avenue, formerly U.S. 31, has lacked the traffic to justify its size since the interstates pulled cars away from state roads decades ago, Department of Public Works Director Brandon Herget said Monday. The most recent traffic data shows that, on average, fewer than 20,000 vehicles use the road each day.
While the south side has had to contend with an old expressway, it has sorely lacked pedestrian and bicycle paths, Herget said. The Interurban Trail will be the first major north-south greenway connecting downtown to the far southside.
"As the neighborhood here has evolved, it warrants slower traffic, it warrants a safer experience, because this isn't where people are flying to and from downtown as much," Herget said. "It's becoming more of a neighborhood street."
When Indianapolis plans Madison Avenue construction
Starting in spring 2025, work is set to occur in three phases:
Phase One: From spring 2025 to winter 2026, the city will rework Madison Avenue from Ray Street, near Eli Lilly's corporate headquarters, south to Pleasant Run Parkway North Drive. A 7,200-foot, or roughly 1.3-mile, section of the Interurban Trail will replace one lane in this section.
Phase Two: From spring 2026 to spring 2027, the city will tackle the section of Madison Avenue from Martin Street south to Hanna Avenue.
Phase Three: From winter 2027 to winter 2028, the city will rework Madison Avenue from Pleasant Run Parkway North Drive down south to Martin Street.
How Indianapolis will pay for Madison Avenue work
More than half of the $47 million going toward Madison Avenue construction is federal grant money distributed by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization . The IMPO will contribute $25.9 million to the work, while the city will cover the remaining $21.1 million.
The Madison Avenue project is one of dozens of safety-related projects totaling $305 million scheduled over the next five years, the city said in a press release. Notably, the city plans to hire an administrator to lead its recently passed Vision Zero initiative , which aims to eliminate all fatal and serious car crashes by 2035.
In the 2024 construction season , Indianapolis plans to build 25.5 miles of sidewalks, 21 miles of new bike lanes and 17 miles of new trails, including the 10.3-mile Nickel Plate Trail and the expansion of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail along South Street and Indiana Avenue.
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