http://www.structurepoint.com/portfolio.cfm/SM_Type/Service/SM_ID/33/Sub/56/Project/200/

We can safely and efficiently accommodate BOTH cars and pedestrians. However, since it’s something that doesn’t appear to have been tried much in Indy for the past 50 years, it doesn’t appear it’s likely to happen without a push from some influential people.

Also, I fail to see the point of putting in bike lanes that will last all of two blocks. The installation of those should be done on a more systematic level, or at the very least with a “bike corridor.” But putting in 2 blocks of bike lanes IMO is a far greater waste of space since no one will want to bike for just two blocks. As for wider sidewalks, yea, you can always make them even wider, but why make them so wide that they are out of character with those on surrounding blocks? Just to eliminate a TWLTL? Please.

Also, the project still meets its goal of reducing the freeway barrier by providing a path under it. The current set up of ramps is much more hostile to pedestrians as well as impractical to current traffic patterns. Sports traffic is funneled onto Washington St., not Market, so moving the ramps makes sense.

The one issue I’m surprised hasn’t even been touched on is why all the ramps are on the south side of Washington. One of the biggest problems with that area is going North from downtown after a Pacer game since left turns onto college are restricted due to the railroad and the one-way street east of the Fieldhouse is southbound, meaning that traffic either turns around on residential streets or has to all the way east to Rural. Improving access to the northbound feeway is important IMO.

I would say that it is certainly valid to have a different goal for the project than I do. Fundamentally, that’s what I’m questioning: the goal, not the execution. It may be that some of you feel that the widest ramp anywhere in Indianapolis for the maximally efficient movement of suburban cars is the way to go. I happen to disagree.

It’s true that the area around the new Washington St. interchange has little pedestrian or bike traffic today. But neither does the Market St. ramp area, which is similarly bleak. The idea of tearing the ramp down is to change that. Similarly, my idea is to change the Washington St. area and build better connectivity across the freeway rather than making the barrier even bigger than it already is.

Ask yourself this: would a truly “world class city” do what this proposal suggests? Note that other cities are trying to do much more aggressive and radical things to make dramatic improvements along their freeway corridors.

Consider also Carmel. The US 31 corridor doesn’t have a lot of pedestrian or bicycle traffic today, nor does Keystone. Both of these are thoroughly auto oriented routes. But the city is trying to change that with roundabout interchanges with narrow ROW and adding protected pedestrian crossings and other amenities. It’s a totally different vision from the Washington St. ramp.

By all means make a choice, but with a rich awareness of other people’s choices and what this choice really means, namely an expansion of the auto-oriented nature and commuter focus/dependency of downtown.

As for TWLTL, why would you need this unless you have lot of curb cuts in the middle of the block? Lots of curb cuts is a hallmark of suburban style development. The TWLWL also take ROW that could better be allocated to bike lanes, landscaping, or wider sidewalks.

Also, I don’t believe the TWLTL is a waste of ROW since I’m pretty sure INDOT isn’t widening Market any in the conversion. Plus, if you look at the image, Market gets fairly narrow with some wide sidewalks in spots; can’t say I have a problem with that. Also, in the area with the largest TWLTL the rendering shows spaces for on-street parking with curb bumpouts, and those will surely keep traffic from traveling at a high rate of speed.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but the place with the longer stretch of TWLTL is the part of Market where the condo project is going to go, right? Looks to me like INDOT is doing the unsual step of planning ahead instead of adding turn lanes haphazardly and post-development (*cough cough* Michigan Road).

And now that I think about it, why is there going to be a great need for left-turns at all?! The only left turn not at an intersection should be one onto an alley, and there should only be one of those per block in Indy.

I believe reason no one bikes downtown is because the roads don’t accomodate biking, not because people don’t want to.

As for the bike lanes…why? Nobody bikes downtown.

As for the TWLTL…again, what’s the big deal? I don’t see why it’s classified as “suburban” instead of urban just because it serves the function of left turns without blocking traffic flow–downtown Los Angeles even has a few!