City leaders and bicycle advocates celebrate

Nora Trail Commitment

Nora receives great news in May.

City leaders and bicycle advocates celebrate

Monon Bridge over 86th Street – $7,081,600 

  • The project will provide a fully separated pedestrian crossing for users of the Monon Trail to cross 86th Street. The project aims to enhance safety in the pedestrian and bike network and reduce potential points of conflict between vehicular users and pedestrians and cyclists. This project will receive federal funding for construction in 2030. 

More, from the city release:

INDIANAPOLIS – On Wednesday, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (IMPO) presented a check for $35,507,485 to the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (Indy DPW). The funds will be used to help build bridges, roundabouts, trails and other enhancements in Indianapolis. 

“Each and every year, our team is thorough in tracking down every creative funding source available to help bring transformative projects to fruition in our city,” said Indy DPW Director Todd Wilson. “With the help of the IMPO, we’re excited to be able to build these projects for our residents.” 

As part of an annual funding process, Indianapolis Department of Public Works (Indy DPW) engineers submitted projects for consideration by the IMPO, which is responsible for planning and programming regional transportation funds in the eight-county Central Indiana region. Each proposal utilized a data-driven application and committed a local funding portion of the overall project cost. 

“The IMPO is proud to partner with the City of Indianapolis to invest in infrastructure that improves mobility, safety, and quality of life for residents across the region,” said Anna Gremling, Executive Director of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization. “By supporting projects like new pedestrian bridges, roundabouts, and trail enhancements, we’re helping communities move forward with thoughtful, data-driven improvements that reflect the needs and values of the people they serve.” 

Among the projects selected for funding is a new separated pedestrian crossing over 86th Street for Monon Trail users in the Nora area. Indy DPW unsuccessfully sought outside funding on multiple occasions to help make this project feasible. With this funding commitment, Indy DPW will now be able to make a long-sought request of the community a reality. 

“The Monon Trail is one of our city’s greatest community assets, and this new pedestrian bridge over 86th Street will significantly improve safety and accessibility for trail users,” said Councilor Brienne Delaney. “This investment reflects our commitment to intentional infrastructure that enhances quality of life for residents in Nora and beyond.” 

Information on more Indy DPW projects can be found on the city’s website at www.indy.gov/dpwprojects

We will post events on this site and at our Facebook page.

Indiana’s Best Tacos? Nora. IYKYK

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Indiana’s Best Tacos? Look for the sign that says, “Chris’ Ice Cream.”

Read all about it in this piece from Axios. As the kids say, “If you know, you know.”

Yes, there’s many a fine taco in this town (and state), and Chris’ Ice Cream has got em beat. Yelp gives em #1. Yeah Nora!

https://www.axios.com/local/indianapolis/2024/09/25/indiana-best-taco-yelp-chris-ice-cream-mexican-food

Photo: M. Petrison on Google Maps

Indianapolis Neighborhood Infrastructure Partnership (INIP) Grant

From the City’s release: “Indy DPW will accept applications proposing public infrastructure improvements from non-profit, community-based organizations for the 2023 Indy Neighborhood Infrastructure Partnership from December 1, 2022 through February 15, 2023. Awards will be made up to a preferred maximum of $500,000 per project, with a total of $2 million to award in this program from Mayor Hogsett’s 2023 budget. Projects conditionally selected to receive funding will be announced in spring 2023, after which time Indy DPW will work with the applicant to refine the scope of their proposed project, formalize a project agreement, and manage the construction of their proposed project.

Full details and grant application are here.”

What could this look like in Nora? 

Examples and Details

Another example

public art mural on train conductor phone booth Nora Indianapolis Indiana Nora Alliance Monon Trail

Mural on Conductor’s Phone Booth

The Conductor’s Phone Booth is a touch of railroad history tucked away on the Monon Trail in Nora. Back when the trains used to run (way before cell phones!) they used to stop here and call ahead to let the next station know they were on their way. The trains are gone, but this well-built concrete phone booth remains. It was manufactured by Permacrete – the company that made many of the telephone booths for railroads.

Today, thanks to many volunteer hours, the phone booth sports a nature-inspired mural. It’s the inaugural artwork this summer as the Nora Alliance Monon Trail Workgroup slowly develops Nora Corners Pocket Park for the community to enjoy.

train conductor's phone booth in Nora Monon Trail

Before – phone booth in 2013

Phone booth bee hive

Phone Booth bird house

Phone booth mural painting

Photo Op?

Volunteers painting mural on phone booth

public art mural on train conductor phone booth Nora Indianapolis Indiana Nora Alliance Monon Trail

Mural phone booth Nora

Nora Corners Pocket Park: Phase I

Read more

NORA 2021 Community Survey Results

On September 26, 2015, the Nora Alliance held its first Nora 2021 meeting and collected dozens of comments on the community’s Liabilities, Assets, Needs and Desires (LAND).  The top ten most cited ideas in each category were used to develop an online survey made available online throughout the month of October.

In all, 124 people responded to the online survey. The results, presented below, provide a ranking of community Assets, Liabilities, Needs and Desires. They will be used as input to planning future projects for Nora 2021. Comments to the survey were also gathered and will be used as input.

Nora Community Assets
Nora Community Liabilities
Nora Community Needs
Nora Community Desires

 

Nora 2021: Where Are We Going?

We kicked off the first NORA 2021 event with special guest acting Director of Metropolitan Development Department, City of Indianapolis, Brad Beaubien. Brad is an award-winning certified urban planner with a commitment to community service, a passion for vibrant communities, and a focus on community empowerment, planning and design policy, and plan integration.

Brad’s presentation (provided below) was the perfect set-up to the larger conversation of how we as a collective community can influence and shape the future of Nora.

Brad offered lots of insights into the management of this vast city of ours from a planning and physical space perspective, also providing a razor-sharp look at where shifts are taking place in demographics and market demand and how that relates to the physical characteristics of suburban communities like ours. He wrapped up by discussing some of the tools available for communities, showing us exactly who our competition is, and giving us a parting charge.

So What Do We Do?

Brad left us with the following food for thought as he described the challenges and tools available to preserve and enhance our community:

  • City Government has very little funding for anything except maintenance. Our direct investment dollars are mostly limited to low and moderate income areas.
  • Sidewalks are absolutely critical, but destinations to walk to are what make walkable communities.
  • Private development is what builds neighborhoods and builds cities. Embrace it. Guide it. Leverage it.
  • The only significant way City Government has to invest in neighborhood transformation is through value capture mechanisms like TIF.
  • Put creative placemaking in everything you do. Suburbs were built to be the same. The future wants authentic.
  • Economic Improvement Districts are the way to regain the local focus erased by Unigov.
Parting Charge

Lastly, Brad left us with a parting charge as we consider the future for NORA 2021 and beyond:

  • Value is created by demand, not supply.
  • What the current and future market is demanding is changing.
  • How can Nora evolve to respond to this change and grow its value?
Next Up: Placemaking

Your invited to join us at the next NORA 2021 Event, October 24, where we’ll focus on… placemaking!

NORA 2021 Event #1 Recap

Many thanks to the crowd that gathered on Saturday morning at the Dean Evans Community & Education Center (WTSC) on Woodfield Crossing and 86th to discuss the future of the Nora community. We hope you came away feeling more informed, engaged and enthusiastic about the future of Nora within the city of Indianapolis. Thanks also to Washington Township Schools, Whole Foods and Brad Beaubien, for their gracious contributions.

The morning’s speaker, acting Director of City Planning, Brad Beaubien, was the perfect set-up to the larger conversation of how we as a collective community can influence and shape the future of Nora. See his full presentation here. Brad offered lots of insights into the management of this vast city of ours from a planning and physical space perspective, also providing a razor-sharp look at where shifts are taking place in demographics and market demand and how that relates to the physical characteristics of suburban communities like ours.

NORA 2021 is community-led planning focused on Nora’s future, and Brad gave us perspective to “play where the puck is going.”

The second half of the meeting participants provided fast-paced input to a community Liabilities, Assets, Needs and Desires (LAND) assessment. Click here to view the uncondensed list of ideas from the Sept 26 event.

NORA 2021: Vote for Our Community Priorities

On September 26th, a crowd that gathered at the Dean Evans Center (WTSC) on Woodfield Crossing and 86th Street  to discuss the future of the Nora community. NORA 2021 is community-led planning focused on Nora’s future. The morning’s speaker, acting Director of City Planning, Brad Beaubien, was the perfect set-up to the larger conversation of how we as a collective community can influence and shape the future of Nora (view Brad’s presentation).

 

 Nora Community Priorities Survey

The second half of the meeting participants provided fast-paced input to a community Liabilities, Assets, Needs and Desires (LAND) assessment. That input will feed the planning process and is provided below.

We want to know your priorities! Please click the button below and provide YOUR FEEDBACK (a brief survey of 4 questions).

 

THIS SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED. VIEW THE RESULTS.

 

Summary and Tally of All Responses

We collected and recorded every comment submitted on colored index cards during our group exercise, a Liabilities, Assets, Needs and Desires (LAND) analysis. On the asset side of the ledger, many comments revolved around the great neighborhoods and the amenity of the Monon Trail. On a related note, many of the desires centered on connecting those neighborhoods in a safe manner to one another and to the trail and capitalizing on the trail with more focused, ‘trail-oriented’ development as seen in some recent projects.

 

Liabilities -weaknesses within the community, and within the context of the City and region, that we should remain aware of and mitigate as possible

86th (and Westfield, College at times) clogged, unsafe

Aging and subpar apartment stock.

Weak sense of community across cultural, generational lines

Limited pedestrian-friendly areas

Lack of an understood ‘center’ or ‘focus’

History of favor toward strip mall format of development

Lack of identity

Lack of control or input over development

Poor infrastructure: sewers, streets, noise abatement, streetlights, street, street services

Assets – the individuals, associations, and institutions in our community, as well as its physical characteristics–the land, buildings and infrastructure upon which the community rests

Monon Trail

St. Vincent Hospital, IU North: proximity

465 proximity and accessibility by car to highway system

Target (not Walmart)

Jordan Y, FBA Athletics, et al.

Cultural, generational diversity

Washington Township Schools

Neighborhood character defined by mature trees

Shopping nearby; grocery choices

Library branch

Needs – gaps in our human capital, as well as the physical the land, buildings and infrastructure upon which the community rests.

Identity, branding, placemaking

Walkable streets, crosswalks and parking lots

Traffic calming

Center or focus of village

Access to Monon from neighborhoods/Connectivity

Developers who will maintain, build value

Public areas, parks

Efficient alternate transportation options

Basic services: noise, sewers, streetlights. Attention from city

Integration of diverse population into fabric of community life

Desires – our aspirations as  individuals, associations and institutions in our community. A positive statement of things you envision for your community.

Safe, efficient connections to Monon Trail; especially 91st St.

Improved infrastructure: sound(465), sewer, streets and sidewalks.

Public gathering place or center

Passable 86th St for foot and bike traffic

Improved transportation options

Reimagined retail – less strip, chain-based stand-alones (switch: form-based code)

Big, identifiable Nora event

Strong, positive, open neighborhood groups

Parks, preservation, conservation

Strong identity as a place of Indy’s future

Nora Keystone Gateway: Preliminary Design #1

This summer community members met with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. (KIB) for the Nora Alliance’s first meeting to capture public input regarding Nora’s Keystone & 86th Street Gateway.

Check out the PRELIMINARY DESIGN provided by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc and CEC, Inc. We’d like to have your input!

Items discussed at July 2015 public meeting:

 Appearance of space
 Keep canopy
 Examine range of improvements
 Improve connectivity (accommodate future improvements)
 Wildflowers
 Public Art (North Central Students?)
 Clean up trash
 Improved signage
 Neighborhood identity
 Improve lines of sight
 Incorporate INDOT trees

Preliminary design preparation thoughts:

  1. Improve manicured edge/INDOT required buffer – 20’ +/‐
  2. Accommodate future pedestrian connector

‐ Maintain a 25’ +/‐ manicured edge on north and south sides of 86th Street or approximately to top of sloped concrete wall and under power lines on south side
‐ Include area between north and southbound Keystone

  1. Identify invasive species and remove including Mulberry, Hackberry, Honeysuckle, etc.
  2. Contact INDOT to discuss influencing bridge color?
  3. Clean out invasives behind northbound exit ramp guardrail

Preliminary design initial phase (2015) thoughts:

1. See attached plan

Preliminary design future phase thoughts:

  1. Investigate topography for wet areas to create streambed landscape
  2. Incorporate limestone block “welcome to Nora” signs into landscape + accent stone – walls?
  3. Upgrade guardrails to painted – black?
  4. Upgrade signals and signal poles?
  5. Wayfinding – shopping, library, park, school, etc?…there is a N.C. sign on the northbound ramp

Given the scope, this is going to be a longer term project with the hope of having some initial quick wins as the construction wraps up.

Project background:

The Keystone Avenue Bridge at 86th Street, currently under construction, serves as a gateway to the Nora community. However, the bridge, exit ramps, and surrounding land have been neglected for years, collecting trash, invasive plants, and the occasional homeless person camping out in the overgrown wooded areas. With the current construction of the Keystone Bridge, we have an opportunity to give this area a facelift. Read the post “Nora’s 86th St / Keystone Bridge Gateway Beautification Project” for more about the project’s background.