Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail Glick Peace Walk

Work on the Glick Peace Walk continues on the two blocks of Walnut between Capitol and Meridian. There are a total of 10 installations on these blocks, with two more to be installed downtown on the Central Corridor (directions to the other 10 will be included at these two pieces). Here's how the designers envision the walk.


And here's a peak at the on-going work for a few of the honorees.






Photos taken April 17, 2010.

Photo: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 24

The North Corridor of the Cultural Trail will feature new traffic lights at the intersections of Walnut St. with Senate Ave., Capitol Ave, and Illinois St. These intersections were previously all free flowing for the streets crossing Walnut St. New street light masts have been installed at all these intersections, though the lights have not yet been installed. Here is one of the masts at Walnut St. and Senate Ave.:

Looking northeast at the intersection of Walnut St. and Senate Ave.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 23

As part of the design of the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail, the intersection of St. Clair St. and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. was shifted slightly north to accommodate the Trail on the south side of St. Clair St. This is what the intersection looks like today:

Looking east from the southwest corner of the intersection.

The center island of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. was extended significantly to the north
to provide a safe stopping zone for those unable to cross the street in the available time.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 22 (Set)

Indianapolis Power & Light has been working nearly every day for the last couple of weeks at the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. and St. Clair St. They appear to be restringing power lines to different poles so that poles blocking the Cultural Trail and St. Clair St. can finally be removed. These photos depict the current state, with poles periodically sticking out of the road and the trail.

Looking east on St. Clair near the intersection with Fayette St.

Looking east on the Cultural Trail near the Central Canal.

Looking west on the Cultural Trail near the intersection of St. Clair St. and California St.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 21 (Set)

This photo set focuses exclusively on one block of the Cultural Trail: Walnut St. between Senate Ave. and Capitol Ave. This block is unusual in that the entire road bed has been replaced by the Cultural Trail. I've been told that this is to be a shared vehicle and trail space, as businesses around Walnut St. require access to Walnut St. for trucks, but that signage will attempt to limit unnecessary vehicles on the trail.

Looking East on Walnut St. at Senate Ave.

Looking East at the inlaid brick pattern.

Looking East at the Cultural Trail-standard lamp posts.

Looking East at the intersection with Roanoke St. (an alley).

What was once a sidewalk along Zesco Products'
building is now a raised bed of greenery.

Looking Southwest from the intersection of Walnut St. and Capitol Ave.

For comparison, earlier construction photos of this area -- with the sidewalks and road bed completely removed -- are available here.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail meets the Central Canal (Pre-construction)

Construction on the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail continues, with significant work on the realignment of St. Clair St. to accommodate the Cultural Trail at the intersection with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. Here are a pair of shots looking West on St. Clair St. from the intersection with Fayette St.





The next phase in the North Corridor construction process is the interface of the Cultural Trail with the Central Canal. This section, connecting St. Clair St. to the pedestrian bridge across the canal at Walnut St., may be the only piece of the trail that goes "off road." The trail will cut through a section of parkland on the west side of canal, immediately adjacent to the Gardens of Canal Court apartment complex. Before it's completely torn apart in the coming weeks, here are a set of pre-construction shots to document the state of the area:

Get ready for earth to be moved. This is looking Southeast at the point where
the trail will cut south from St. Clair St. to the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge.

At least DPW avoided American Dirt's complaint about putting construction warning signs directly in pedestrian walkways. It does say something about the department's mindset, however, that they have no choice but to put up a "Road Closed" sign even when they're doing construction on a walking path.

Looking north toward St. Clair St., Gardens of Canal Court at left.

Looking south toward the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge, Gardens of Canal Court at right.

Looking north from the West St. access path near the Walnut St.
pedestrian bridge. Those orange flags may denote the trail route.

Looking west from the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge.

Looking northwest from the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge at the West St. access path (left)
and the canal access path (curving right), with Gardens of Canal Court in the background.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 20

Looking West from the intersection of Walnut and Capitol (Zesco Restaurant Supply at left). The road bed here will be a shared vehicle and Cultural Trail space. An attempt will be made to discourage unnecessary vehicle traffic, but the businesses around this area require Walnut for truck access.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 19

The median that will house the Glick Peace Walk, looking West on Walnut.

Stepping back and looking at the median from the intersection of Walnut and Capitol.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail Photo 18

Up to this point, the design of the Cultural Trail has been nearly flawless. However, some very bad decisions were made regarding the Walnut St. sidewalks outside of the Glick Peace Walk. Consider this sidewalk on the north side of Walnut between Illinois and Capitol:

I put my arm down on the sidewalk to get a rough measurement: wall to curb = fingertip to shoulder = about 28". Why even bother with a sidewalk that narrow? Apparently the designers decided they wouldn't and completely eliminated the sidewalk on this section between Meridian and Illinois:

What do you think about these decisions?

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 17

Looking west from St. Clair and Fayette Sts. (more utility relocations).

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 16

Looking southeast at the intersection of Meridian and westbound Walnut.

This intersection deserves a little more detail, so here are some extras:

Looking east at the westbound vehicular lane of Walnut (American Legion Mall in the distance).

Looking north at the Cultural Trail segment next to Meridian.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 15

The bases and vertical posts for "Prairie Modules 1 & 2" have been installed. This piece of art is located on the Northeast Corridor, on North St. between Alabama and New Jersey.

Looking east on North St. (the Murat Theatre is off the picture to the right).

I'm very curious to see how this one turns out. Here's what the finished project should look like:

Looking north across North St. from the Murat Theatre parking lot.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 14

Construction is full speed ahead on the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail. The photo below shows the intersection of Indiana Ave., Paca St. and St. Clair St., near the western terminus of this corridor.

St. Clair is currently closed between Indiana and West for utility relocation, construction of the Cultural Trail and resurfacing of St. Clair (which was in horrible condition).

There has also been significant progress on the segment between Senate and Meridian since I posted the previous update and I hope to provide an update on that if the weather cooperates in the next couple days.

I also wanted to give a quick update regarding DIG-B. No, I'm not letting this blog slowly die, it's just very slowly adapting to a couple of changes in my life that have taken away a considerable amount of the free time I used to devote to blogging. The first is my change of jobs last December. Though the job is personally much more rewarding, it provides considerably less down time that I used to use for writing and assembling posts. The second change is my wife and I preparing for the arrival of our first child in September. That's taking a small amount of time away right now, but rumor has it that will take a much bigger chunk come September!

So, I hope you won't take DIG-B out of your blog readers, or stop checking for updates directly here. DIG-B isn't dead, it's just slowing down.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail North Corridor Update

These photos show construction of the North Corridor of the Cultural Trail, specifically Walnut St. between Senate Ave. and Meridian St. Photos taken Saturday June 20th.

Looking East from Senate and Walnut (the Central Canal is one block to the West).
The Cultural Trail will occupy the entire street bed between the Canal and
Capitol, though vehicles will NOT be restricted from driving in this section.

Looking South on Senate, showing the future curb bump-out.

Looking Southwest from Capitol and Walnut.

Looking West from Capitol and Walnut (Zesco at left).

Looking East from Capitol and Walnut. Between Capitol and Meridian, the Cultural Trail will be on a raised median at the center of Walnut. Vehicle traffic will be divided to either side of the trail.

Looking East from Illinois and Walnut.

Same location as the previous photo, capturing the glory of the Scottish Rite Cathedral.

Looking South on Capitol, showing the curb bump-out.

Looking North from Meridian and Walnut. This will be the entrance
for westbound vehicles on this section of Walnut.

Looking West from Meridian and St. Clair.

Photos: Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Photo 13

A before shot, the entrance to the alley connecting Mass Ave. to College Ave.:


An after shot, with the unique piece of "multisensory artwork" by Sean Derry called Chatham Passage.: