United States Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx recently delivered some welcome news to proponents ofbus rapid transit (BRT)inIndianapolis.
“The city is on throes of launching something unique,”Foxx said in April while touring the proposed system’s first leg, the 28-mile, $100 million electric bus route known as the Red Line. “Transit can be the difference between someone having a shot and not having one in the 21st-century economy.”
Rendering of a dedicated bus lane in Indiana. (City of Indianapolis)CentralIndianahas struggled for years to scrape together enough money to expand public transit throughout the metropolitan area under an ambitious $1.2 billion transportation plan, known as IndyConnect. The Red Line is a key component of that plan, eventually connecting Hamilton, Marion, and Johnson Counties with a north-south, electric bus rapid transit route that would stop at local landmarks like the state fairgrounds and the Carmel Arts District. About 100,000 people live within a half mile of the Red Line and 169,000 people work within a half-mile of it,according to theIndianapolis Star.
Last year Indianapolis won $2 million from the federal government for an environmental study of the Red Line, adding to a pot of a few million dollars already established by the city and surrounding suburbs. The project is now eligible for a federal construction grant of up to $50 million.
