As we meander our way through another Indiana winter and fantasize about the warm summer months, urban thinkers and planners scrutinize the projects that are only inching along or are totally halted due to cold temps or incliment weather.
One such project I wish to highlight, is the Indianapolis Cultural Trail located in downtown Indianapolis. This project probably doesnt get the good press that it deserves. When you look at what it will do, which is create a VAST walkable space for downtown Indy, urban planners everywhere would give a LOT to have this project taking shape in their backyards… or downtowns as it were. The large public infrastructure projects that get major press like new skyscrapers or mass transportation systems are great. Don’t get me wrong. However, unique projects such as the Cultural Trail have their place in a well oiled urban environment.
When complete, the trail will link all of downtown’s “Cultural Districts”. These were defined some time ago as regions of the downtown area that have a specific story in the context of Indianapolis’ evolving history.
Getting to the bricks and mortar of the trail construction itself, is a little bit of a task. One can hop on a bike (or get in your car if you desire) and head to the downtown area and witness the trail taking shape. You will find a lot dirt piles and destroyed pavement surrounding the areas of construction. One such area taking shape right now, is the North East portion. This is designated as the path that runs from the Monon Trail, down Massachusetts Avenue, across Walnut and North Street and continues across the north side, called fittingly the North Corridor, of downtown towards IUPUI.
East End Construction, Nikon D90 w/ Tokina 12-24 f4 (Click to enlarge)
I recently contacted Gail Payne of the Cultural Trail to see about getting my hands on some engineering prints of the NE Corridor portion and also of some of the rain garden areas that have been designed. The rain gardens are an interesting inclusion in that they do a really good job at handling and re-using the storm water run off that urban areas have to deal with. These retention pond-like structures collect and slowly drain storm water into the surrounding soil to be used by robust plant life to grow. Gail was happy to provide me with everything from the North St/Alabama intersection along the North and NE leg all the way to the Monon. The drawing are, as one would expect, very detailed. I thought I would include some excerpts from them to describe a few of the key areas.
Pictured below is the intersection of Mass Ave, Walnut and Park Ave. A complex area of street without the trail. With the trail though, a well defined path through here will include renovated and expanded sidewalks as well as nicely highlighted crosswalks. This will particularly aid on the First Friday Art Walks that take place in this area. The Dean Johnson Gallery is located at this particular intersection and provides a good anchor to represent the area.
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A recent trip to the east end of Mass Ave showed me that while construction HAS progressed, it has not been as rapid as residents would like. A recent newsletter from Jill Ditmire, owner of the Mass Ave Wine Shoppe, stated that they were working with the DOT to get that portion of street restriped to make it a little more inviting to would be shoppers planning on entering the area. The east end photo was taken in December of 2009 and shows how narrow the street through here really is. Once complete, it will be a very nice area to visit, but right now the situation underscores why a good plan of execution is needed when taking on projects of this size.
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The Cultural Trail was recently the recipient of a $20.5 million “TIGER Grant” from the federal government. This infusion of money was the last portion needed to complete the trail. Hopefully this year they can use this incentive to expedite the construction and tidy up in time for the 2012 Super Bowl that will be held here.
In my next guest post in this series exploring the Cultural Trail, I will touch on the rain gardens that I spoke about before.
