Cycling Infrastructure on Indy's South Side

Cycling Routes on Indy's South Side

Recently I attended IndyCog's membership meeting. I had a chance to talk with Mayor Joe Hogsett and his pedestrian / cycling coordinator, Jamison Hutchins. Both received awards from IndyCog that night for contributions to cycling in Indianapolis. I mentioned to them that the south side of Indianapolis doesn't have the bike routes and trails like the north side and downtown portions of town. In the map above, blue represents the most "bikeable" routes while red indicates least bikeable. The south side does have the bike lane along Madison Avenue, so there is a north - south route. Unfortunately, there is no good route from east to west.

There are two barriers to cycling east to west in southern Marion County. On the west side, there is White River. The only bridge across White River between I-465 and Waverly is at Southport Road. Traffic is bad at that location and the road is narrow. On the east side there is I-65, which has 7 overpasses:

• Thompson Road
• Edgewood Avenue
• Gray Road
• Southport Road
• Emerson Avenue
• Stop 11 Road
• County Line Road 

Southport Road and County Line Road have interchanges with I-65, so they have considerable auto traffic. Of the remainder, I think Edgewood Avenue is the best option. From the west side, you can pass through a subdivision and get onto Edgewood only 0.2 miles from the overpass. Between White River and the Edgewood overpass, Banta Road makes a pretty good option. East of the overpass on Edgewood, it isn't very good between Emerson Avenue and Franklin Road.

The map below shows a route from West Newton to Acton. Let's lobby the city government to improve the bikeability of a couple sections:

• Southport Road from Mann Road to Tibbs (1.6 miles)
• Edgewood Avenue from Emerson Avenue to Franklin Road (3.4 miles)