A peak into the future at Indy BRT (updated)
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Nov 2nd, 2011 | 8 comments
I reported a couple of weeks ago that Indianapolis had received a grant from the FTA to study “bus rapid transit” on the central corridors comprised of Washington Street east/west and some combination of streets north/south from Carmel, through downtown to the University of Indianapolis on the south side. This post attempts to explore the possible routes a bit more and to add some context.
 A look at the Indyconnect site (as of November 1st, 2011) tells us that the proposed BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) routes would be implemented in the short term, relatively speaking, with...
Battle over I-69 in SW Indiana heating up
Posted by Curt Ailes in New Development, Transit on Oct 27th, 2011 | 9 comments
As a resident of the Hoosier state at this point in time you would have to be living in a 60’s era air raid bunker if you have not heard about the I-69 project in southwest Indiana. If you have been in a bunker, let me briefly recap. The State of Indiana is constructing a freeway between Evansville and the SW side of Indianapolis. The majority of this cuts through rural farmlands and otherwise, ultra-low population centers. The state is funding most of the projects bid to this point, from money gleened from the Major Moves program; the lease of the toll road in Northern Indiana over 5 years...
FTA Awards $2 Million to Indy for BRT Planning
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Oct 20th, 2011 | 5 comments
On October 17th, 2011, the FTA awarded Indianapolis $2 million to conduct an alternatives analysis on what is termed, “Central Corridors”. (click here for the official FTA press release in .PDF format) This is direct from last year’s adopted Indyconnect plan that laid out future BRT lines along Washington Street east & west as well as BRT from Carmel to the southside of Indy along Keystone, College & Madison Avenues. Although the text is not particularly constricting, nor is it confining to the technology being BRT, what it DOES do is open the door to starting the...
Regional Transit and the Trip Not Taken
Posted by Curt Ailes in Pedestrian, Transit on Oct 12th, 2011 | 29 comments
The past year and some change has been an exciting time for transit in Indianapolis. I feel like we may be moving from the decades of study, study, study to something actually taking place. Proof of that is the current undertaking of the NE Corridor AA/EIS which is also accompanied by a land use study which will not only strengthen Indianapolis’ bid to get federal funding for the project but also lay out a plan for what we would like the areas around the stations to look and feel like.
As of late, both the Republican and Democratic mayoral candidates have been supportive of improved mass...
IURC approves water lease; $425m for infrastructure
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Jul 21st, 2011 | 16 comments
On July 13th, 2011, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approved the lease of the water utility to Citizen’s Energy. While this has been debated vigorously over the past year and a half locally, what it means is that when it goes through, over $425 million will become available to put towards Rebuild Indy; a program that I have given praise to as well as been highly critical of.
The crux of why I have been critical, is that none of this money has thus far been diverted, at least in principal, to addressing our horrendous transit situation. Indeed, Indyconnect has done much to address this...
