LAWRENCE, Indiana — Unless you own a car, getting around can be tough, especially "IN-Lawrence."
That's why IndyGo is planning to upgrade the Purple Line rapid transit to extend all the way through downtown Indianapolis.
It's a $188 million project, and half of the cost is going toward infrastructure upgrades like street paving and new curbs and sidewalks.
"We're talking about street paving to make the roads smoother. We are taking about new sidewalks in areas that sidewalks did not exist before," said Carrie Black, with IndyGo.
This means the days of waiting an hour to catch a bus to Indy are over. Now, the wait should be around 15 minutes between each bus.
"It means bringing faster, more efficient transit to Lawrence in a way it has never seen before," Black said. "They're now going to have this connectivity that's going to help them access the rest of Indianapolis much easier."
The work is already very much underway as you can probably hear and see on your daily commute.
The line currently ends at the Ivy Tech campus.
Just as the Red Line serves the downtown area from north to south, the new Purple Line will serve the east side all the way up to Lawrence using dedicated bus lanes apart from regular traffic.
The busses will also get what's called "signal priority." It's essentially a different stop light that gives the bus lane priority during light switches.
It also means they won't have to wait as long before the light turns green, which makes travel in them even faster.
The Purple Line is currently set to be completed in the fall of 2024.
Black also mentioned to the "IN-Lawrence" team that surrounding businesses have already seen $500,000 in economic development around the Purple Line area.
She believes this will bring surrounding organizations better business and more people overall.
For more on the Purple Line project, click here.