DPW still building sidewalks with poles in them
Posted by Curt Ailes in Bicycling, Pedestrian on Jul 18th, 2011 | 25 comments
Last week I blogged about a tremendous project taking place on the south side of Indianapolis. That project of course is the Shelby Street bike track.
However, I received an email with three pictures from an Urban Indy reader that showed how someone is already screwing up this project. You can see that a familiar theme is rearing it’s ugly head once again in the shape of old utility poles being disregarded as new concrete is put down; in this case one that would be easy to relocate.
I forwarded the email I received to my normal contact at the DPW and I was told that it was being discussed with...
Developer Town
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods on Jul 15th, 2011 | 2 comments
This past week, a new venture known as Developer Town launched an Innovation Showcase in a vacant property at 53rd and Winthrop Avenue. The event was co-hosted by a group known as Verge.
I’ve long wondered if there was any hope of revitalizing these defunct buildings, which were previously served by the Monon Railroad. Developer Town is intended to be a Tech Start-up incubator, giving similarly minded people a public forum for bouncing ideas off of each other. This is exciting for many reasons. Here are just a few:
Displays the power that cities and public gatherings still have in an...
Where should a DT Transit Center be located?
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Jul 13th, 2011 | 23 comments
According to the IndyGo Comprehensive Operational Analysis that was covered in depth by Kevin, a downtown transit center should be used to try and organize all of the routes that converge on downtown Indianapolis. Per the report, a robust savings in operational cost could be gained while preserving on street traffic versus the current location’s most congested point along Ohio Street; at the same time increasing the amount of time buses can wait on layover waiting on connecting routes to arrive.
However, the report debunked the conclusions that past downtown transit studies have...
Could Central Fishers go the way of Dead Malls?
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods on Jul 12th, 2011 | 22 comments
The intersection of 116th and Allisonville serves as an icon of Hamilton County’s suburban boom. I recently visited the area, and concluded that unless it undergoes an aggressive transformation, it could easily become a strip version of the next dead mall.
Here’s a view of the built environment in this area. Fishers Station is to the right, Fishers Crossing is to the left:
Compare this with a struggling area in Indianapolis, the intersection of Lafayette and Georgetown Road:
As far as I can tell, there are not many real advantages for Fishers versus this intersection in Lafayette...
Goodbye Indianapolis – I’ll Miss You / Don’t Call Me, I’ll Call You
Posted by Greg.Meckstroth in Neighborhoods on Jul 11th, 2011 | 9 comments
If you have ever read my blog urbanOut and followed the ‘Walking the Walk’ series about being car-free in Indy, you know that my walking habits rarely veered away from a few key streets in Downtown. For two years this was the life I lived, with no real desire to wander off course. But since June of this year, all that changed when my life took a significant detour off my normal walking routes and landed me in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I now live. Earlier this year, I pursued a career opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. After a long interview process, a lot of waiting...
