How Indianapolis' new road safety team intends to eliminate traffic deaths by 2035

Indianapolis officially started work on its decade-long project meant to make streets safer for bikers, pedestrians and drivers.

The project is called Vision Zero, named after its goal to drastically reduce traffic fatalities in the city.

"The commitment we are taking as the city of Indianapolis Vision Zero Task Force is to bring that number down to zero," said the project's leader LeAndre Level Jr., "because we don't want that to be anybody, let alone any family member of ours."

Vision Zero began in Sweden in the 1990s, eventually spreading to the United States after it went global roughly a decade ago. Over sixty communities across the country have adopted Vision Zero policies.

Indianapolis adopted its own Vision Zero Task Force in 2024. A City-County Council resolution stated the city's goal was to eliminate "all fatal and serious injury crashes on city streets and roads by 2035."

City officials described how the process will work at a media event on Tuesday. After every pedestrian traffic death, first responders will work with the city's Fatal Crash Review Team to analyze what happened and make recommendations about potential infrastructure improvements.

Some solutions will be implemented by what the task force calls the Quick Build team, a group focused on implementing short- and medium-term solutions.

Short-term solutions would be implemented weeks after a crash and could include putting up temporary measures, like plastic separators between car lanes and bike lanes, to help traffic safety.

Long-term solutions, like redesigning an entire intersection, would take years of planning, designing, and raising capital. And those kinds of solutions would often need to go through the City-County Council for approval.

The task force is made up of a coalition of city departments and partners, including several non-government organizations.

IMPD officials say they see their role as two-pronged: enforcement through tickets and education about road safety. The City-County Council will vote on measures that come from the task force's recommendations, especially on issues that require funding. And the Department of Public Works is working on 19 tactical urbanism projects, and helping with the task force's fatal crash review team.

Level Jr. says despite being just three months into the ten-year project, Vision Zero has made considerable headway.

"We've programmed several pedestrian bridges over major roads on 46th Street, 86th Street," Level Jr. said. "We just recently opened a pedestrian bridge over 96th Street for the Nickel Plate trail."

Level Jr. said residents of Indianapolis can expect changes in how streets are designed, more protections for cyclists and pedestrians, and improved health outcomes for people involved in car crashes.

"We're not saying that no crash will ever take place," he said. "We're saying that, 'Hey, if a crash takes place, what are we doing to make sure that those crashes don't become fatal?'"

Officials say an online dashboard is in the works to keep track of upcoming projects. The task force will release their first annual report at its meeting in May.

Contact WFYI Digital Producer and Reporter Jeremy Reuben at jreuben@wfyi.org