Indy Pedestrian Plan Approved

The Indianapolis MSA has ranked last for two consecutive years.

The Metropolitan Development Commission in Indianapolis has approved the city’s first pedestrian plan. The plan is a part of an initiative known as WalkWays, which aims to make Indy more walkable. Kim Irwin with Health by Design, which landed funding to develop the plan, says it gives a framework for prioritizing resources and making decisions to improve walkability.

Irwin says the plan helps officials identify the places within Indianapolis and Marion County that have the highest need for walkable infrastructure improvements. It also helps to figure out which places need to be addressed first, due to the limited amount of funding available to complete them.

Irwin adds the plan does not come with any funding for potential projects.

"In addition to the infrastructure improvements that are needed, there are also policy recommendations, programmatic recommendations, and suggestions that include how we might go about pursuing either new funding options or leveraging existing funding better," says Irwin. "The recommendations certainly outweigh available resources, but we look forward to working with the City-County Council and other community partners to address the funding gaps."

Irwin says the project management team that worked to develop the plan will now shift toward implementing it. She says there are some projects that could be completed very quickly but others that could take a number of years to complete. 

You can view the plan in its entirety below: