‘It’s going to be difficult’ Indianapolis plan to reduce traffic fatalities laid out

The Indianapolis Vision Zero Task Force has released an initial plan to make the city safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

The proposal comes after months of community feedback.

Health by Design gathered community response to develop the initial plan through pop-up events around the city. CEO Marc McAleavey said the engagement was eye opening.

“It was palpable the amount of trauma that exists in this community because of the incidents and the, you know, the pain in our streets and in the pain in our sidewalks,” McAleavey said.

The plan doesn’t include any immediate action for specific roadways or intersections, but creates a list of priority strategy areas the taskforce will address.

Those include standardized data collection and analysis, updating traffic enforcement policies and continued community engagement.

Indianapolis City-County Councilor John Barth is chair of the task force. He said the proposed plan is just the beginning.

“All that we’ve been getting here through slogging through data and looking at best practices, and now we have to do the hard work of turning the volume up,” Barth said.

Numerous objectives on the list involve money to accomplish. Barth said budget constraints from the Indiana General Assembly passing property tax cuts this past session will force financial decisions about action items.

“We can’t lose faith,” he said. “We have this plan. We have to start allocating resources and doing it with consistency and diligence and advocacy.”

Deputy Controller Abby Hanson said the plan’s road map will help direct funding priorities.

“We’re building the 2026 budget right now and it’s going to be difficult,” Hanson said. “We are facing a lot of financial uncertainty from actions that were implemented upon us, I guess I would say at the state and federal level.”

The original deadline for an approved plan was by the start of July, but Barth delayed the formal adoption until later this year.

The public can comment on the proposed plan starting July 1st.

Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05.