DPW prepares to convert 29th and 30th Streets into two-way roads

INDIANAPOLIS — 29th and 30th Streets have served as twin three-lane one-way roads through Indianapolis' west side for generations. The Department of Public Works is now ready to place these roads on a permanent diet.

DPW will soon convert both streets into two-lane, two-way roads between Meridian Street and the White River. The agency said it will start the transformation after Citizens Gas removes lead pipes beneath the roads later this year.

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"It's important that their neighborhoods feel like neighborhoods and not highways," said Indianapolis Department of Public Works spokesperson Kyle Bloyd. "Over time, that roadway has become disrespectful to the people who live there. Would you want to walk out of your house and have people doing 60 miles an hour outside of your home?"

The conversion project is estimated to cost $22 million. Its first phase will focus on 29th and 30th Streets between the White River and Interstate 65.

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Margo Groves lives near the affected area and has to cross 29th Street to go to church every Sunday. She said she's ready for any change to help slow drivers down.

"The cars, they race up and down the street every day, every night all day long," Groves said.

The plans for 29th and 30th Street are a small piece of Indianapolis' strategy to convert one-way roads. The Department of Public Works received a series of federal RAISE grants to eventually convert most of the one-way streets that feed in and out of downtown.

The 29th and 30th Street project is not included in the federal funding.

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College Avenue between Massachusetts Avenue and Market Street reopened as a two-way road this January and work is underway to convert Michigan and New York Streets through the Near East Side.

"Changing the physical infrastructure, that is one thing DPW can do to help make streets safer for everyone."

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One critical piece of 30th Street's infrastructure is still in progress. The 30th Street Bridge over the White River, which was initially estimated to reopen this season, will not finish reconstruction until at least the end of 2025.