Monday, November 13 is a major deadline for the Red Line.
Construction contractor bids to build the 13-mile rapid transit bus line are due by Monday.
Those bid packages to build the nation’s first electric bus rapid transit line (BRT) connecting Broad Ripple to downtown, Fountain Square, and south of the University of Indianapolis will be open the same day.
There will be two packages, one for civil (street and design) work, the other for station work. Vendors were invited to bid on one, or both.
IndyGo says once operating in 2019, the Red Line will run within a quarter-mile of 50,000 residents, connecting them to almost 150,000 jobs.
The Red Line will run south on College Ave from Broad Ripple, go west on 38th Street to Meridian Street, then south toward downtown on Meridian, through the heart of downtown Indianapolis, then south to UIndy via Virginia Avenue and Shelby Street.
That’s a lot of real estate and construction along already-busy streets.
On December 7, the IndyGo Board will approve construction contractor(s). Further public meetings will follow and work takes place throughout 2018, with the Red Line expected to open in 2019, when the new IndyGo Bus Network is also put on line. All of this because Marion County voters overwhelmingly approved an income tax hike last November to pay for mass transit improvements, including the Red Line and two other BRT lines.
