IBJ: New city policy provides avenue for neighbors' ideas on road safety

Read the entire story by Leslie Bonilla Muniz here.

Hygema is among the residents across Indianapolis taking a do-it-yourself approach to tweaking specific stretches of road by their schools, businesses and neighborhoods to better protect children and neighbors. Generally, residents coordinate with city authorities but lead the work themselves.

Interest is on the rise, according to the Department of Public Works, which adopted late last month its first cohesive policy for handling the temporary, low-cost installations that are widely known as tactical urbanism. The approach has the potential to make changes that otherwise wouldn’t make DPW’s project lists.

Last fall, for instance, DPW swapped the tape on East 54th Street for permanent paint, and extended the bike lane another mile to Keystone Avenue for good measure. But, advocates say, the projects also lay bare the sheer amount of work that’s left to make neighborhoods more friendly for pedestrians and bicyclists.