Residents, businesses hopeful new pedestrian bridge coming to the Monon trail will enhance safety

INDIANAPOLIS — A problematic intersection along the Monon is set to get a massive facelift.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization announced this week a pedestrian bridge would be built on the Monon over 86th Street.

“As a cyclist myself, I’ve been almost hit three or four times there,” Indy resident Michelle Krall said in July 2024.

“There’s not a whole lot of sidewalk space so that kind of also makes it scary,” Molly Durava added last year.

FOX59/CBS4 has reported time and time again just how dangerous it is for people on the Monon at 86th Street. Now the Indianapolis metropolitan planning organization has announced funding for a project to fix that.

The IMPO said work on a $7 million pedestrian bridge will get underway in 2030.

The project aims to establish a dedicated pedestrian crossing for people on the Monon Trail, allowing them to safely cross 86th Street and reduce potential problems with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.

Eddie Sahm, the owner of Big Lug Canteen and vice president of business operations for Sahm’s Restaurant Group which sits right off the Monon, said he’s grateful for increased safety and the bridge itself.

However, he is also worried the bridge could impact businesses in the area essentially bypassing potential customers up and over his restaurant.

“86th Street is no joke,” said Sahm. “It’s lanes of traffic and people going to and from work and school. I know it’s going to be a large project but as long as companies like ours are kept in mind and hopefully they connect us in somehow, that would be best.”

Sahm said traffic along the Monon was a huge selling point in putting his business there in the first place and just wants businesses along 86th Street to be considered.

”I wouldn’t want to be actively against a bridge. I would want it to be as safe as possible. There’s nothing in me that would say, ‘stop the bridge because my business is hurt,'” explained Sahm. “But, I just hope as they go to build it that they keep those things in mind.”

Meanwhile, Connie Szabo Schmucker with Bicycle Garage Indy said she is thrilled the bridge will keep pedestrians and bicyclists safe but fears drivers on the roads below will still cause problems.

Bicycle Garage Indy and other community groups recently teamed up for a tactical urbanism project at the troubled intersection and conducted a safety survey.

“One of the questions was ‘As a driver, do you feel safe going through this intersection?’ And close to 60% did not feel safe going through the intersection as a driver. Let alone the other people who are using the intersection. So there obviously need to be changes,” said Szabo Schmucker.

Schmucker hopes to see more permanent infrastructure changes like speed tables or bollards installed to help increase safety.

Either way, both just hope all sides can come to the table and bring their ideas before the bridge is built.

”Are they going to help small businesses? Are we going to have a seat at the table even if just for one day to explain how we operate? I hope that happens and I hope everyone is safe along the way as well,” said Sahm.

”I hope it gets safer,” said Schmucker. “I hope we can do things in the near term like this year and next year and make the intersection better for everyone.”