03/09/13| Near Eastside Catalyst Plans

Storrow Kinsella Associates prepared the East 10th Street Urban Design and Gateway Plan in 2009, eight years ago (a plan is considered to be aging after five years). But it hasn't spent that time gathering dust on a shelf. It had identified as high priority the remaking of the dreadful Interstate 65/69 "north split" underpass area from a barrier to a gateway to the Near Eastside. That has been implemented with great success. Our detailed design process for the gateway was accompanied by strategies that brought together multiple partners and agencies to fashion an inspiring connection between the Mass Ave Cultural District and the emergent Near Eastside, a linking of three greenway trails, a celebration of the origin of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail and a catalyst for economic development that is only now achieving transformative critical mass. Additional priority projects are lining up, with the attached article describing one of them....see  feature story in the Urban Times. There are lots more ideas in that original plan that range from roundabouts to trail links to breaking through the railroad barrier.