Business Owners Voice Concerns Ahead Of Blue Line Construction

Updated: Tuesday July 2nd, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. 

IndyGo took input Monday night from business owners worried about traffic for their businesses ahead of Blue Line construction. The line will run 24 miles from Cumberland to the airport terminal, the current route 8. Construction will start fall 2020.

Rachel Hawkins owns a business on Washington Street, between Lyndhurst Avenue and Holt Road. It sells truck and RV accessories.  

“One of the biggest things that I have concerns about is that, with the dedicated lanes, we’re going to be diverting traffic off of Washington street to other places,” Hawkins says. “Well, that will take away from our exposure.”

More than 20 people attended the meeting. Many shared Hawkins concern and say the new traffic pattern will make it hard for people to make left turns and U-turns on Washington, motivating drivers to use other routes.

IndyGo Vice President of Public Affairs Bryan Luellen says, in some cases, street size and the project's timeline will limit what may be done to address those concerns.

“Each of the individual issues that a person may have is going to have to be on a case by case basis just based on the constraints of the project and what the specific concerns are,” Luellen says.

He says the project is a positive for Indianapolis because it will increase overall mobility. The Blue Line is slated to open in either fall 2022 or spring 2023.

Luellen also says the Red Line is still on schedule to start in September. 

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story had a misspelling of IndyGo Vice President of Public Affairs Bryan Luellen's name.