LAWRENCE, Indiana — 13News is learning more about plans to extend a popular trail in Lawrence.
We're talking about a new two-mile segment added to the Fall Creek Greenway.
This will start at Lee Road and 63rd Street and go to the Upper Loop Trail at Geist Crossing.
City officials said work will begin this year, thanks to several grants.
This new trail will be paved and connect to the existing Fall Creek Greenway, which runs over 14 miles from downtown Indianapolis to Fort Harrison State Park.
Here's why this is such a big deal for Lawrence: Last fall, we talked with the head of a group called Indy's Urban Wilderness, who told us Lawrence needs to be more walkable.
"There are 50,000 homes, and this area has an average walkability score of 13, and to put that in context, we're talking about zero to 100," Dr. Franklin Roesner said. "So we don't have walkability, we don't have access to other neighborhoods, to commercial centers, to places of work."
That's why they really celebrated these grants to make this extension.
Earlier this month, Indianapolis city officials cut the ribbon on another segment of the Fall Creek Greenway. By 2025, the greenway is expected to connect Hoosiers to other trails, making a 42-mile multi-trail loop across three counties. The goal is to eventually connect all the way up to Fishers.
Along 63rd Street, specifically, the new trail will connect to another trail in Lawrence that connects to Forest Glen Elementary School and several neighborhoods.