INDIANAPOLIS — Sunday evening, a man in a wheelchair was hit by a car near Hanna Avenue and East Street on the city's south side.
He was transported to the hospital and is now recovering. But, people who live nearby say they'd feel a lot safer if there were some sidewalks they could use instead of being forced to walk along the street.
"It's terribly sad you don't want to see anybody get hurt," John, a south side neighbor, said.
John lives in the area and heard the man get hit by the car on Sunday night.
"A lot of the people here are elderly. A lot are disabled. And they have no choice but to use the street to travel," John said. "And to travel as they do is just unbelievably dangerous."
There is a bunch of residential people in the area, three complexes on that very block and it is also a place with a lot of public services.
"The gas station, the Kroger store, the dollar tree. All of these things are here and when these folks need groceries or any type of item, this is where they come."
RTV6 spoke with the City Councilor, Jefferson Shreve, and he agrees.
"It's East Street. It's U.S. 31. It is a high-trafficked corridor. I think everyone in the city, DPW, those of us on the council, would like to see public sidewalks along both sides of U.S. 31," City Councilor, Shreve, said. "The need is apparent. But the funding for it... it is not out there. It is not in the pipeline."
Councilor Shreve says that he's tried to get sidewalks in this exact area, but it requires a lot of money the city has so far not prioritized as an infrastructure need.
Councilor Shreve also added that he would've liked to get something done about this sidewalk back in 2012 - his past term.
In September 2017, the Department of Public Works engineering team estimated it would cost $430,000 to add sidewalks on both sides of East Street, from Hanna Avenue to Troy Avenue.
RTV6 was told there was not enough money in the city's budget.
