INDIANAPOLIS — The future of IndyGo’s plans for the Blue Line are up in the air after lawmakers on the Senate’s Appropriations Committee heard testimony on a bill that would ban dedicated lanes for any future public transit projects across the state until July 2025. That would include plans for the Blue Line.
Construction on the 24-mile Blue Line — that would run along Washington Street, connecting Hancock and Hendricks counties all the way to the Indianapolis International Airport — was set to begin sometime in 2025.
If Senate Bill 52 becomes law, it would halt any movement forward on the Blue Line, unless IndyGo revamped the project, getting rid of dedicated lanes for the Blue Line and instead, used shared lanes, in which buses and vehicles could travel.
SB 52 would not affect IndyGo’s Red Line or the Purple Line, which is near completion.
The bill’s author, Republican Sen. Aaron Freeman, said having dedicated lanes for the Blue Line would slow down traffic for the vehicles who use Washington Street.
“The citizens of Indianapolis do not deserve dedicated lanes which are so going to screw up their travel, that it’s almost going to force people to ride the bus in Indianapolis,” Freeman said.
This isn’t the first time Freeman has brought up a bill like this one that would ban dedicated lanes for public transit.
Last year, a similar bill passed in the Senate but didn’t move forward in the House.
Freeman said he brought the bill again this year because he was assured by leadership in the House that they would consider it.
Thursday’s hearing on SB 52 was, at times, contentious and emotional.
“This hearing feels like a local government hearing because this is a local government issue,” said Indianapolis resident Sean Hirschten, who lives near Washington Street.
Hirschten told lawmakers he wants IndyGo’s Blue Line to have dedicated lanes, and he wants the state to stay out of it.
“For those of you who don’t live here, I would urge you not to micromanage our affairs,” Hirschten told lawmakers.
Hirschten was just one of dozens of residents, who live near or along Washington Street, who testified Thursday against the bill.
“We need the Blue Line,” Cassandra Crutchfield told lawmakers on the committee.
Crutchfield isn’t worried the Blue Line would slow down traffic on Washington Street. She wants that to happen, and the reason is a tragic one.
“In 2021, my daughter Hannah and I were hit by a car on Washington Street, while walking home from school. Hannah did not survive,” Crutchfield told the committee, choking up.
Pedestrian safety was a frequent concern for many who testified against the bill.
“I am sick and tired of almost being struck by speeding cars along Washington Street while walking my dog,” said Nathan Height, who lives in Irvington and said he and his husband bought a home there two years ago because of plans to build the Blue Line.
Brandon Herget, the director of the Department of Public Works for Indianapolis, also testified against the bill.
Herget said because of the Blue Line, much-needed infrastructure improvements along Washington Street would also be taking place.
Plans call for 57 new or upgraded traffic signals, 343 new or replaced ADA compliant curb ramps, seven miles of new street resurfacing, nine miles of new or replaced sidewalks, two miles of new or refreshed crosswalks, and storm water improvements. Herget said federal grant money attached to the Blue Line project would make those improvements possible — leading to a $238 million investment in infrastructure in Marion County.
“Halting this project would be an extreme disruption to the planning and budget in the Department of Public Work’s five-year Capitol Palan and deprivation of 100s of millions of dollars in vital infrastructure investments to the residents of Indianapolis,” Herget told lawmakers.
SB 52 had just as many supporters who spoke out during Thursday’s hearing, some of them business owners along Washington Street, who feared taking away lanes for vehicles to build the Blue Line would impact traffic to their businesses.
“I feel the designated bus lane, especially through our historic neighborhood, is going to be a detriment not only to our business, but our community as a whole,” said Lisa Bennett, who owns Black Sheep Gifts in Irvington and has been there for 14 years.
Bennett said debate about the Blue Line among the Irvington community had caused rifts.
“We just feel like the construction and time is really going to hurt all the business along the corridor,” added Scott Drumm, the owner of Josephine’s in Irvington, a clothing store that’s been there since 2021.
The owner of Jockamo’s Upper Crust Pizza Restaurant also testified in support of the bill.
“It would affect our business,” Nancy Duncan said. “We ae still trying to recover from COVID and the price increases that happened over COVID. We’re still not where we need to be, and as an independent business, we want to stay in that area and be successful."
Jennifer Pierce, interim president and CEO of IndyGo, said changing the Blue Line project now to a project using shared lanes, instead of designated ones, would force IndyGo to go back to the drawing board and risk losing federal grant money for the project.
“I think a year moratorium would essentially kill the Blue Line,” Pierce said.
“I do not see a path forward, funding wise, through the federal transit administration,” Pierce added, saying changing the project at this stage would force Indy Go to reapply for the federal grant money and likely bump them to the bottom of the list to be considered.
Senate Bill 52 passed out of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee by a vote of 7 to 5.
In a written statement about Thursday’s vote, Democratic State Sen. Fady Qaddoura called Senate Bill 52 “bad public policy.”
Qaddoura’s statement went on to say:
“To ignore the access, infrastructure improvements, and economic development opportunities IndyGo's rapid transit will provide to residents is a mistake. Impeding those efforts is not good government.”