INDIANAPOLIS — On April 12, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and the Indianapolis Department of Public Works announced $500,000 in matching grant funds to the Indianapolis Public Transportation Foundation (IPTF) to support IndyGo’s initiatives for safe passage of pedestrians to and from transit stations. This grant will allow for the design and construction of safe pedestrian crossings at three intersections on Lafayette Road, between 16th and 30th streets, to enhance connectivity and accessibility for Indianapolis residents. Improvements to the intersections will include added sidewalks, accessibility ramps, and crosswalks with illuminated HAWK signals.
Updated intersections will include:
- Lafayette Road & Roberta Street
- Lafayette Road & Kessler Boulevard North Drive
- Lafayette Road & 21st Street
Mayor Hogsett and Indy DPW awarded eight community-based organizations with matching funding through the Indianapolis Neighborhood Infrastructure Partnership (INIP) for projects they submitted to improve pedestrian and roadway infrastructure in the public right-of-way.
“Infrastructure is more than concrete and asphalt,” IPTF Executive Director Emily Lovison said. “It’s connectivity, independence, opportunity, economic mobility, quality of life, equity and inclusion. The impact that accessible, equitable and inclusive mobility solutions can have on our community is momentous. It will take bold, creative solutions to address these challenges, and IPTF is positioned to act.”
While the City and IndyGo invest heavily in infrastructure every year, they face extraordinary challenges due to the sheer number of lane miles in Marion County and an income tax structure in Indiana that allocates income tax to the county in which a person lives, and not where they work. With limited capital and capacity, sidewalk connectivity in Indianapolis has been underfunded for decades. In the 1990s, there was even a moratorium on construction of new sidewalks.
“As a nonprofit organization closely tied to IndyGo, IPTF is a force multiplier, convening partners and leveraging private investment in public infrastructure,” said Lovison.
A recent report by DPW estimates Indianapolis needs “$92 million to repair poor sidewalks and $7.2 billion to build new ones where none exist.” It takes an average of $22,000 to make one bus stop accessible, and it would take $40 million to make all eligible IndyGo bus stops ADA accessible.
Using pedestrian research and rider demographics, IPTF focuses on projects increasing connectivity and accessibility to the IndyGo bus system. It invites you to join it and be part of the solution by contributing to the Connectivity Fund.
Learn more at https://www.indygo.net/foundation/.
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