Empty check-in at IND.
Posted by Eric McAfee in Transit on May 1st, 2013 | 9 comments
I was torn between posting my latest here or on my personal site, American Dirt. While most Indy-themed articles end up finding their way here, this one scrutinized airports in a way that I usually only apply to my personal site. So I’ll paraphrase it here, but the full post is there on Dirt.
It’s not necessarily fair to judge Indianapolis International Airport’s Colonel H. Weir Cook Terminal on its level of activity at 9pm on a Friday. But at a time in the evening when larger airports are still humming, about 80% of the retail options are closed at IND. Perhaps more important...
HB1011 relegated to Study Committee
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Apr 29th, 2013 | 17 comments
Urban Indy has kept up to the minute with the goings-on of HB1011, mass transit, which was introduced in the Indiana House this year. Friday April 26th, it was reported that Representative Jerry Torr, author of the bill, had signed off on the Senate adopted version of the bill; that being all referendum authorizing language the original bill covered was stripped and replaced with a bi-partisan study committee being established to look into the issue over the summer.
As written, the study committee has a December 2013 deadline to report back to the state legislature its findings. Presumably, after this...
IndyGo’s Frequency Maps
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Transit on Apr 26th, 2013 | 0 comments
As one of the premiere transit blogs, Human Transit has been beating the drum of frequency maps for transit. These maps prioritize how often buses run, where traditional transit maps show each line to be on equal footing. I had even thought of creating a crude version for IndyGo that features their new lines that have improved bus frequency (which are still not as frequent as they should be, but that’s another story). However, IndyGo actually has these maps on their website for everyone to view. The PDF file explaining this can be found at this link. The maps can be seen there, or...
Trip report: Atlanta
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Apr 23rd, 2013 | 3 comments
Last week, my family took a week’s vacation to the south and I was lucky enough to convince my wife to ride Atlanta’s MARTA subway system. It was after all, my birthday so I did not have to work very hard at it. We were passing through on a Sunday morning and after checking the schedules, I was delighted to see that even on Sunday, the Gold Line operates on 20 minute headways. This is comparable to Indy’s best bus headways or was up until recently with the 2013 service upgrades to the 8.
With the promise of coffee at one of the stations, I set about finding someplace we could park our...
Jane Jacobs Walk with Big Car
Posted by Kevin Kastner in Neighborhoods, Pedestrian on Apr 23rd, 2013 | 2 comments
Urban Indy is proud to sponsor an upcoming Jane Jacobs walk in the Garfield Park neighborhood with the Big Car organization. Indy’s version of the nationwide initiative takes place on May 4th at 10 AM. Registration and more information for the event can be found at this website. I’ll be taking part in the 3 mile walk with my wife and 2 year-old daughter. Other Urban Indy collaborators may also be joining along. Come along and chat with us, as we aim to reflect on our current built environment, as well as ways to improve upon...
One-way spur streets downtown: not exactly spurring growth.
Posted by Eric McAfee in Pedestrian on Apr 17th, 2013 | 36 comments
That most American cities suffer from a plethora of one-way streets is a blog topic in and of itself. After all, just last week I revealed on my personal blog how Houston’s vast downtown only has five streets with two-way sections, and not one of these streets completely transects the city center. The desirability of one-way versus two-way is an argument I’ll save for a later point, when I’m better prepared to identify the streets in downtown Indy that are the top candidates for a conversion. No doubt we can all think of that one irritating block where we can never turn the way we want to...
HB1011 passes Senate
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Apr 11th, 2013 | 14 comments
This week, the “summer study” version of HB1011 passed out of the Indiana Senate 39-11. The bill varies wildly when compared to the House version which was passed last month with bi-partisan support, which would authorize a referendum in 2014 for Marion and Hamilton Counties to raise income taxes by 0.3% which would be dedicated to funding a vast expansion of transit as well as a regional transit authority.
So what happens now? If you have never watched this process closely (like me) then it comes with a lot of wrinkles. A conference committee has been established which will involve members...
Sidewalks as Parking Lots
Posted by Curt Ailes in Bicycling, Pedestrian on Apr 10th, 2013 | 25 comments
Here at Urban Indy, we have long been proponents of keeping our city sidewalks free of automobiles. Providing space for pedestrians to safely walk along a street is key in offering a premium urban environment which leads to many things such as sustained economic activity at the neighborhood level.
The City of Indianapolis also seems to value this. Last year, a Complete Streets ordinance was offered by the City Council and adopted in a unanimous vote. Earlier this week, Smart Growth America rewarded Indianapolis’ efforts by awarding us the #1 ranking for policies implemented in 2012. This is a big...
Indiana Commerce Connector back in play?
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Apr 9th, 2013 | 16 comments
The Indianapolis Star is reporting that a long dormant plan for an outer belt Indianapolis freeway may have new life. The idea which was introduced in 2006 and shot down, seems to have some new-found support in the Indiana State Legislature. Billed by Senator Luke Kenley as a way to relieve congestion and improve the economic development landscape, the Commerce Connector would be constructed at an estimated $1.5 billion dollars.
For the uninformed, see the map above which traces a rough route miles from Indianapolis through what is primarily farmland. The road would intersect with small outlying towns...
April 2013 Wallpaper
Posted by Curt Ailes in Bicycling, Pedestrian on Apr 8th, 2013 | 0 comments
This month’s wallpaper comes from the Cultural Trail prairie modules. Enjoy!
2560 x 1600
1280 x 853
1280 x 1024
1366 x 768
