INDIANAPOLIS — City officials broke ground on the Marion County portion on the Nickel Plate Trail on Tuesday.
The trail will convert the Nickel Plate Railroad bed to a multi-modal trail from 42nd & the Monon Trail, east to the existing Nickel Plate, north to 96th Street.
Officials say the project will provide important connections between the places where people live and work.
“Nearly 100,000 residents live within a mile of the project, along with employment sites accounting for more than 30,000 jobs within half a mile – a number that will certainly grow in the years to come,” Mayor Joe Hogsett said.
Indianapolis officials say they expect construction to be finished by the summer of 2025, but there are a lot of variables that could impact that date.
The funding for the Nickel Plate Trail came from a $5 million IDNR Next Level Trails program award, $1.2 million in READi funds and a $1.75 million donation from the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) of Indianapolis.
The bulk of the trail is built on the railroad for which it was named. The Nickel Plate Railroad, built in the mid to late 1800s, once connected Central Indiana communities to large industrial metropolitan cities from Chicago to New York and Cleveland to St. Louis.
Combined with the Midland Trace and Monon trails, the Nickel Plate Trail will create a 41-mile loop spanning multiple counties.
For more infromation on the Nickel Plate Trail, click here.
