Indianapolis: Give Us Safe Streets TODAY
10th Street in Indianapolis, before it was redesigned.
The neighbors of Community Heights in Indianapolis have grown restless over an unsafe drag-strip-like stroad, and have decided to redesign the street to better fit their walkable community.
Between homes and local businesses at the edge of the Community Heights neighborhood is 10th Street, a stroad that’s gained itself a reputation for crashes, speeding, and many close calls. At just one intersection along this road, there were 20 crashes between 2019 and 2022. Thirteen of the crashes resulted in serious injuries, and two of them were fatal.
“I was walking to 10th Street and a red sports car used the center turn lane to pass someone,” said Leslie Schulte, former president of the Community Heights Neighborhood Organization (CHNO). “Right as they did that, someone was leaving my street to turn left, and they slammed into that car. There was a child's car seat in the back. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But if the car had been just a few feet forward, the other car would have slammed into that child.”
Locals did not want another crash, or another death, to occur in front of their homes. With a city-mandated five-year approval process for new permanent projects to be installed, CHNO decided to take a faster route to fix the street design through the city’s tactical urbanism program (though it still took a year and a half to gain a permit for the project). Once permissions were granted, locals took to the streets with temporary water barriers and street trees.
10th Street’s tactical urbanism design, with trees and bike protections, was created by four independent groups of neighbors. (Source: Rebecca Shehorn Photography.)
The temporary water barriers line 10th Street, protecting bikers from cars weaving in and out of the bike lane. Center-turn-lane street trees sit on palets every 200 feet, and prevent cars from using the center turn lane to pass.
The new design created a drastic change in the behavior of drivers, walkers, and bikers who use the street. Through speed studies and surveys, the neighborhood organization determined exactly how effective the new road design is. Before the new road design, only 22% of drivers felt safe using 10th Street. Now, with median trees and narrower lanes, 77% of drivers reported feeling safe with the new road design.
Before the tactical urbanism design of 10th Street, the majority of users (drivers, walkers, bikers, etc.) felt unsafe. Now, with a design focused on slowing traffic, the majority of users reported feeling safe on 10th Street. The second survey only counts responses submitted through 9/4/23, more responses are expected and percentages may change slightly.
The majority of drivers were speeding on 10th Street prior to its redesign. The 85th percentile speed was 42–44 mph, while the posted speed limit was 35 mph. Since its redesign, the 85th percentile speed on 10th Street is now 36–37.9 mph—much closer to the posted speed limit.
The group also conducted a speed study along 10th Street before any design changes were made. Results showed that the majority of drivers drove above the 35 mph speed limit, with an 85th percentile speed of 42–44 mph (and some surpassing this speed at 50 mph). After the temporary designs were implemented, drivers passed through the neighborhood at much slower speeds. The 85th percentile speed changed to be closer to the actual speed limit, at 36–37.9 mph. No vehicles traveled over 42 mph.
“Design chooses the speed that drivers will go,” said Schulte. “With a different design, we can induce drivers to go the speed limit. Which is safer not only for the drivers themselves, but for everyone else who might be using the roadway such as walkers, bikers, or the person waiting at the bus stop.”
Now, with proof that everyone using the street feels safer, and is safer with the new design, Community Heights is looking to the city to make the changes permanent. With the support from the connecting neighborhoods, the DPW department, and the police department, CHNO is hoping the project can be approved and permanently installed faster than the usual five-year wait time.
“Traffic-calming measures make all road users safer, whether you are driving, rolling, strolling, or cycling,” Indiana State Senator for District 46 Andrea Hunley said in a statement. “…The committed members of CHNO are setting an example in our community for creativity and consensus building.”
If CHNO can’t bypass the five-year approval process, it may result in 10th Street having to regress back to its drag-strip stroad design.
“It is not possible for us to maintain this installation indefinitely,” said Schulte.
Because the street trees sit on pallets, with mulch on top to protect the roots, they have to be watered every day when it doesn’t rain. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to keep the trees alive in this temporary position for five years.
One of three volunteers who help water the trees every day. (Source: Rebecca Shehorn Photography.)
It’s also possible for the barriers to be hit and moved by cars. Schulte said one driver experienced a medical emergency while driving and crashed into a few of the barriers, moving them out of place. When something like this happens, someone has to be available to reset the heavy water barriers.
“Being available to put those [barriers] back into place or remove them from the street is a commitment that not every person can make,” said Schulte. “A lot of us are employed. And it takes multiple people to move one of these barriers that are filled with water.”
Community Heights neighbors don’t want to revert back to crashes and deaths on their local street. If the city wants to prevent more crashes, it should not wait months or years to take action. Life saving street designs should be implemented as soon as possible, especially if the people who live there are asking for it.
Seairra Jones serves as the Staff Writer/Story Producer for Strong Towns. In the past, she's worked as a freelance journalist and videographer for a number of different organizations. She currently resides between small-town Illinois and the rural Midwest with her husband, where they help manage a family homestead. When Seairra isn’t focusing on how to make our towns stronger, you can find her outside working on the farm, writing fictional tales in a coffee shop, or reading in a hammock.