In early 2016, Mapleton-Fall Creek was selected by the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW) as the pilot for an initiative called “Rethinking our Streets.” The overall goal is to better balance cars, pedestrians, children, and bikes on our streets.
Neighborhood representatives from Mapleton-Fall Creek and Historic Meridian Park along with the DPW, Big Car Collaborative, and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful experimented successfully with chalk paint on two intersections along 32nd Street at Washington Blvd and at New Jersey. The collective group is now moving forward to the next step. Over the next several months, neighbors will see 13 intersections transformed. Some intersections will have crosswalks with an Arts & Crafts flair reflective of the architectural style of area homes. Delaware and 32nd Street will feature a painted 30’ by 50’ mural with an Arts and Crafts motif visible from high overhead. The design was created by artist Andy Fry of Big Car with input from several neighbors including graphic artist Ryan Noel.
On Saturday, September 24, the volunteers spent several hours transforming the intersection. A large stencil of the mural artwork was created in paper and spray paint guidelines were added to the roadway to facilitate the final painting by Butler University students involved in a University service project called Bulldogs Into the Streets. Additional Butler and neighborhood volunteers have been busy filling in the outlines since.
The painting of the rotary located at 32nd Street and Washington Boulevard is Phase II of “Rethinking our Streets.” During Phase I, cars drove through the intersection when cones were not present. To address the traffic flow issues, orange cones were placed around the painting to direct traffic around the painting and prevent the cars from driving through the painting. The city has now installed bollards (white posts) and rotary signs around the outside of the circle. Lights at the 32nd Street and Washington Boulevard intersection will keep flashing red for the time being. If the painted intersection is successful, the paint will be replaced by a concrete roundabout. Additionally, new stop signs have been installed at the intersection of 32nd and Delaware Streets as promised by the city months ago.
Many thanks to Doug Day for his vocal support in getting the bollards installed as soon as possible. Big Car Collaborative has designed a very elegant stencil which will get applied to the middle of the rotary by neighbors now that the bollards have been installed. As neighbors can imagine, with just a few volunteers it takes a very long time — thus the pleas on the HMP Facebook page for assistance. The current artwork in the crosswalks, mural, and roundabout took roughly 150 volunteer hours to paint.