Indianapolis' 'Complete Streets' Order Ushers in Transit Renaissance

See also: Happy (bike) trails for Hoosiers

With few sidewalks in their Indianapolis neighborhood of Norwood, many residents are forced to walk on busy city streets, often in heavy traffic.

"You see kids, the elderly, moms with strollers on those roads," McAtee said. "You see close calls all the time. Every day is an accident waiting to happen."

So McAtee, 60, president of the Norwood Neighborhood Association, joined with AARP Indiana and several other nonprofit groups to push for a "complete streets" ordinance. Passed unanimously by the City-County Council of Indianapolis and Marion County in August, the ordinance requires transportation engineers to consider all users — pedestrians, bicyclists, people with disabilities and motorists — when designing new and remodeled roads.

A quality of life issue

Norwood has a core of older residents who have called it home for many decades. Adding sidewalks and additional transit options would allow them to continue to live in the neighborhood comfortably as they age, McAtee said.

"It's up to us to make the quality of their life easier. Those folks are the roots and memory of our community," she said. "If you want to know when something happened in the neighborhood [60 years ago], or what life was like back then, you know who to go to."

Ironically, the urban hub of Indianapolis was designed with pedestrians, and later rail, in mind. But as the city expanded outward in the 1940s and beyond, walking and biking took a backseat to the automobile. For the last 50 years or so, sidewalks were an afterthought in many outlying areas of the city.

But now Indianapolis seems to be on the verge of a transit renaissance. Support is growing for a proposed light-rail system linking the suburbs and downtown. A record number of passengers are riding the IndyGo buses system, and there are plans to expand routes next year. Mayor Greg Ballard (R) has spearheaded efforts to encourage bike commuting.

The year before Ballard took office, the city had less than a mile of bike lanes. Five years later, there are more than 64 miles of bike lanes and trails, with plans to more than double that number in the next few years. The city also collaborated with the local YMCA to create the Indy Bike Hub, where downtown workers can shower, store their bikes and even get some repair work done by Bicycle Garage Indy technicians.

"Society has changed," said Lori Miser, the city's public works director. "People are more health-conscious and looking for choices; they want to walk or bike to work or school or to the store. Our aging population might not be able to drive or might choose not to drive, so it's especially important to have that infrastructure in place. So we need to retrofit our streets, even though it could be harder and more expensive than if we'd done it the first time around."

A 2011 poll of AARP members in Allen and Marion counties showed 85 percent wanted local infrastructure improvements to make it easier to get around without a car.

Next page: Lengthy process predicted. »