Indiana State Senator, District 46, Andrea Hunley, and I had a great meeting today about W. Washington St. Her jurisdiction covers the part of that road that I am building into my book, “NBG Blueprint – Making the National Bicycle Greenway Real”. As a chapter, I am calling it “The most Important Road in America”. This is so because the part of West Washington we are looking to improve connects the most bikeable downtown in the world to the top rated airport in North America. Also referred to as US 40, from 1834 to 1869, as the National road it sent almost 500,000 pioneers to the West in search of fortune and a better way of living.

Andrea and I began by talking about the contraflow that I foresee along the part of West Washington that was rerouted in the early 1980s around the south side of what would become the Indianapolis Zoo. A 6-lane boulevard at this point, it is bordered by the animal compound on one side and a lawn enclosed sidewalk on the other. An easily upgraded piece of real estate, bordered by mature shrubbery that blocks the view of the adjacent rail tracks, it travels uninterrupted for one mile from the White River to Harding Street. With no driveways or intersections to contend with Andrea wants to soon try it out for herself!

And just before it reaches the White River, if coming from the west, we can use the underpass that doubles back under the road and then over to the old 40-acre GM Stamping plant. What’s even better is the fact that Andrea has regular meetings with the Elanco people who are developing the old factory site. She told me they recently approached her about ways to better connect themselves to the bike infrastructure here. She was excited that she would have something to bring to them.

At which point I reminded her of the Cultural Trail extension that is coming. Per the podcast I recently did with ICT, CEO, Karen Haley, they are building a bike bridge that will cross the White River from the old Diamond Chain site opposite this new development. She will, as well, take this up with the Cultural Trail people who she regularly meets with also.

We then talked about the Indy Go Blue line, which is now slated to run, 1.8 miles from Harding to Holt Road. This, of course, is a scaled back version of what they changed their mind about last December. Instead of going all the way to the airport, now, it reaches only to Holt road.

In some ways this is a mixed blessing. As she and I discussed, there is a middle turn lane on West Washington with two lanes of traffic on either side. If it’s upgraded by the bus people, it seems doubtful they will make any provisions for the bike community. I suggested to her that we scrap the whole rapid transit bus idea. Get rid of the middle turn lane and use that extra real estate for bike lanes on either side of the road all the way to the airport! She will find out what the Indy Go people have in mind, and we will go from there.

Finally, I broached the idea of having a group ride on West Washington, with political officials and other luminaries as a way to bring attention to how treacherous it is at present. As a group of say 10 people, cars will yield accordingly. Toward that end, we can even get the services of Indianapolis skateboard journalist, Thomas Breedlove, whose work is very high-quality and has said he will film our ride. I was hoping for a September timeline for that when the weather cools down a little bit.

All in all, Andrea is a real bullets cyclist. She was much looking forward to her ride with bike publicist and Mayor’s Bike Advisory Committee member, Connie Schumacker. Soon, they are scheduled to ride the Fall Creek Parkway. She was excited about that. And I’m excited that she sees the genuine need to improve West Washington a.k.a. US 40 aka, the National Road that Thomas Jefferson signed into law in 1806!