Indy's rapid transit plan moving fast
Central Indiana's bus rapid transit plan appears to be gliding toward reality, with a boost Thursday from the nation's transportation head and plans to apply for a $50 million construction grant.
"The city is on throes of launching something unique," U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told a breakfast gathering of local and national transportation and housing advocates at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. "Outside of housing, transportation is the biggest expense that families living at the margins have."
Foxx took a 45-minute tour of the proposed system's first leg — the Red Line — before announcing it will receive technical assistance from several nonprofit organizations.
City and federal officials said the line would provide people who need or hold jobs with a fast, frequent and easy way to get to them.
"Transit can be the difference between someone having a shot and not having one in the 21st-century economy," said Foxx, the former mayor of Charlotte, N.C.
The Red Line is a proposed 28-mile, $100 million electric bus route from Westfield to Greenwood with several dedicated lanes and raised platforms. Nearly 170,000 people work within a half-mile of the route, and tens of thousands more live close to it, many in low-income neighborhoods.
Indianapolis was awarded a $2 million federal grant last year for an environmental study of the Red Line and is now eligible for federal construction funds.
IndyGo President Michael Terry said the city would probably apply for a $40 million to $50 million grant in the fall to build a segment of the Red Line from Broad Ripple to the University of Indianapolis. It would require the city to make a 25 percent match and identify a way it would pay for operating costs of about $5 million a year.
"You typically do projects like these in phases and begin in the part that will be most used so you can show that it works," Terry said.
If the "Small Starts" grant is approved, construction could begin in 2017.
On Thursday, Foxx rode on an electric IndyGo bus with Mayor Greg Ballard and several transportation officials along part of the proposed route. The buses went south on Meridian Street, jogged over to Capitol Avenue on 16th Street and continued to the under-construction Transit Center at Alabama and Washington streets.
Along the way, Department of Metropolitan Development Director Adam Thies pointed out the businesses the buses would serve, as well as vacant storefronts and houses that could be revitalized by the construction of the route.
The Red Line would be one of five crisscrossing the city in the $1.2 billion system — called Indy Connect — and it's anticipated that they would prompt development nearby.
The federal initiative, in which Indianapolis is one of seven pilot cities, is named the LadderSTEP program, part of a broader Ladders of Opportunity program launched by President Barack Obama. The nonprofits drafted to help with the Red Line would help plan and speed up that development, Foxx said.
The organizations providing assistance include:
• LOCUS, a national network of real estate developers and investors who advocate rehabbing metropolitan areas.
• The Urban Land Institute, which conducts outreach and industry expertise for community leaders about land use.
• Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit real estate investment bank.
• Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.
•Local Initiatives Support Corp., a national nonprofit community development financial institution.
Ballard said with the combination of the Cultural Trail, the transit center, the building of bike trails and the rapid bus transit plan, the city has "momentum."
"Connectivity was a concept that wasn't even on anyone's mind five years ago," Ballard said. "The Red Line is a bold step."
Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418 and follow on Twitter @john_tuohy.