LAWRENCE, Ind. — Northeast Marion County residents are celebrating plans for a critical extension of the Fall Creek Greenway.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources awarded the city of Lawrence a $5 million Next Level Trails grant Wednesday to lengthen the trail by nearly two miles.
Indy's Urban Wilderness, a group of trail advocates, told 13News in September the grant would allow for the extension of the trail system from Lee Road at 63rd Street to the Upper Look Trail at Geist Crossing.
"In the neighborhood surrounding just this (proposed) segment of the Fall Creek Greenway, there are 50,000 homes, and this area has an average walkability score of 13 (out of 100)," said Dr. Franklin Roesner, president of Indy's Urban Wilderness in September. "So we don't have walkability. We don't have access to other neighborhoods, to commercial centers, to places of work."
Roesner, a physician, said trails like this are needed not just for connectivity but for health reasons, too.
"Central Indiana has an epidemic of issues that can be lifestyle-impacted, like obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes," Roesner said. "If you build it, they will come. You can improve people's physical activity by providing those opportunities."
The award was among the largest in the latest round of the Next Level Trails grant program. In all, the DNR awarded nearly $31 million in local and regional grants for 28 miles of new trails statewide.
The Fall Greek Greenway is currently about 18 miles long. It goes from downtown Indianapolis to Fort Harrison State Park. Earlier this year, 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.
DETAILS
Fall Creek Greenway
Grant Amount: $5,000,000
1.83 miles
Extends the Fall Creek Greenway 1.83 miles from 63rd Street and Lee Road to 71st Street and Fall Creek Parkway and the Upper Fall Creek Loop Trail. The new trail will be a paved multi-use path and will include a section of boardwalk. To the west, the existing Fall Creek Greenway runs over 14 miles from downtown Indianapolis to Fort Harrison State Park. Along 63rd Street, the new trail will connect to a Round 3 Next Level Trails project in Lawrence that connects to Forest Glen Elementary School and residential areas.
OTHER CENTRAL INDIANA PROJECTS
Vision Trail Phase 1
Randolph County
Grant Amount: $4,096,800
4.3 miles
Adds 4.3 miles of 10-foot-wide asphalt shared-use path along the abandoned Penn Central rail corridor from County Road 1000 South to the town of Modoc, crossing through the town of Losantville. The trail bisects the Cardinal Greenway, an existing 50-mile trail from Richmond to Gaston through Muncie. The project is supported by land donations from Healthy Communities of Henry County, the town of Losantville, and the West Union Volunteer Fire Department.
River Road/Tiger Drive Trails
Delaware County
Grant Amount: $1,166,435
0.71 miles
Adds new trail to fill gaps in the town's existing trail network near the White River. The River Road segment is 0.54 miles, and the Tiger Drive segment is 0.18 miles. Completing these gaps will connect parks, schools, and sports facilities to the downtown area and to the trail network in the neighboring city of Muncie.
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