With traffic congestion growing, the idea of sending streetcars zipping down Washington Street—from
far-east-side Cumberland to Indianapolis International Airport on the west—is making a return. And
the route could offer the best bang for the buck in spurring transit-oriented development.
The expanded service shuttling air travelers and airport workers to and from Indianapolis International Airport began Feb.
3, to the newly opened Fairfield Inn & Suites at West and Washington streets.
Backers of the plan
said the work by the Central Indiana Transit Task Force amounts to a crucial private-sector endorsement
needed to finally proceed with a regional transportation system.
After 30 years of government
studies of a regional transportation system, a private-sector group on Wednesday is set to unveil its own
plan that includes commuter rail and toll lanes added to congested interstate highways.
The decision to sidetrack a 110-mph Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati train hasn’t received any attention
locally. High-speed rail could someday become an economic development engine here, but it has
not gained as much attention here as improved highways or a commuter rail line from downtown to Noblesville.
IndyGo, for all its faults, is the Cadillac of transit systems in the Indianapolis region. Service breaks at county lines
and the absence of passenger shelters are among the deficiencies facing transit systems in surrounding counties.
The Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority, IndyGo and other Indianapolis-area transit groups are the subject of
a study that could result in them being reorganized.
Due to low ridership, the IndyGo Commuter Express route from Greenwood to downtown Indianapolis will end Dec. 1.
An urban advocacy group is trying to bring a big-city concept to Indianapolis: car sharing. People for Urban
Progress cites environmental benefits as well as cost savings for urban dwellers who might find it practical to ditch their
seldom-used vehicles.
Delaware County’s representative on the CIRTA board will be Marta Moody, executive director of
the Delaware-Muncie Plan Commission.
A new public shuttle service got rolling this morning on the near-east side of Indianapolis.Known
as the Near Eastside Orbiter, the 24-passenger shuttle is provided by the John H. Boner Community Center at 2236 E. 10th St.
and completes a 15-mile circular route in about an hour.
Architecture and urban design students from Ball State have created a vision for urban renewal that is arguably more compelling
than the Central Indiana Regional
Transit Authority’s principal, utilitarian goal of reducing northeast-side highway congestion and air pollution by running
a diesel commuter train atop the old Nickel Plate Railroad corridor.
To support quality of life initiatives and boost economic development, Indiana government and its citizens must develop quality mass transit systems.
The Metropolitan Development Commission gave Indianapolis area transportation planners the green light Nov. 12 to do an expedited
study that would show locations, cost and potential ridership for mass transit routes region-wide.
The Metropolitan Development Commission has given city planners the green light to seek an expedited study that would provide
a clearer picture of what a comprehensive regional transit system could look like and how much it would cost.
Sixty Indianapolis-area business and civic leaders visited Denver Oct. 19-21 as
part of the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce 2008 Leadership Exchange and paid close attention to public transportation, especially commuter trains.
Planners and politicians spent the better part of a decade and untold millions of dollars studying a mass transit system between
downtown and the suburbs. They have little to show for it except mounds of reports and an estimate of $690 million, but the
boys in bib overalls at the Indiana Transportation Museum think they can get it done for much less.
If the introduction of modern streetcars to one West Coast city can be replicated here, Indianapolis would see new, higher-density
housing and related retail and restaurants shadowing the line. Fallow areas crossed by the tracks would become fertile for
new investment. At least that was the case in Portland, Ore., a city mesmerizing to Indianapolis civic leaders, who last month
formed Downtown Indianapolis Streetcar Corp. They risk being run out of town on a rail: a streetcar line will cost…
Just 5,900 Marion and Hamilton County commuters would park their cars in favor of rapid transit if that were an option, according to data from a late-2001 report for Indianapolis’ Metropolitan Planning Organization by New York firm Parsons Brinckerhoff.
