INDIANAPOLIS — INDOT is looking to plan the future of infrastructure for the next 20 years. A two-year study is halfway done and on Monday INDOT released their initial insights.
1,100 comments came from over 100 stakeholders. Through those comments INDOT determined the four areas of needs and purposes that need to be addressed, pictured below.
"When drivers exit the highway, it needs to be known to them that they are entering a neighborhood,” Leslie Schulte with the Community Heights Neighborhood Association said. “We need INDOT's help to make that happen."
People enter the Community Heights Neighborhood when they come off I-70 on to Emerson Ave. She says safety is their biggest priority. Especially since where the interstate meets their neighborhood isn't very pedestrian friendly.
"In Community Heights, one in four families do not have access to a private vehicle,” Schulte said. “So this means for one in four families, anything across the interchange might as well be on the moon."
That concern is common among other communities that border interstate interchanges. That is why INDOT says they are taking a close look at which areas are the most dangerous.
"As we move forward into the next phase, we will be taking that feedback as well as you know things like traffic data, crash data, kind of marrying the two,” Natalie Garrett with INDOT said. “So we can continue forward and start to develop some of those alternatives whether it's safety related, or mobility related."
There are five phases total when it comes to this study. INDOT is now moving on to the third with the study expected to be complete by next year. For community members with real concern, they hope this study results in tangible action.
"Emerson is south and north of the highway, lined with single family homes,” Schulte said. “Drivers need to be conscious of that but there is no physical indication that they should be so we are looking to INDOT to take the lead on that."
INDOT is looking for feedback about the current phase they just finished. People interested can leave feedback on the ProPEL Indy’s website.
Construction from this study is a long way away. INDOT says the soonest construction will result from this study is in five years, but it could take as long as 20. To read the initial insights click here.
