Nora Keystone Gateway: 1st Meeting with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful
On July 20th, community members met with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. (KIB) for the Nora Alliance’s first meeting regarding Nora’s Keystone & 86th Street Gateway. This is a summary of that meeting, and invitation for continued public input.
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.
KIB’s Mark Adler, Janet Baker, and planner David Roth led the group in a review of the Keystone Bridge construction and opportunities for a beautification project. Mark Adler presented information on the current conditions of the interchange and construction (scheduled for completion in the late fall 2015), followed by an open discussion. Here’s what we heard:
Opportunities
- current construction remediation requires tree replacement, but without maintenance plans — this is an opportunity to segue with a beautification project and community-driven design
- community desire to preserve existing tree canopy for noise reduction and wildlife
- public art – look at concepts and location within the interchange
- create vegetated edge plantings
- reduce or eliminate mowings with native platings wildflowers and tall grasses
- improved signage for the interchange
- plan / public art that embraces the strengths and weaknesses of the interchange (e.g., power line structures, the community history)
Concerns
- homelessness, pan handlers and drug use are past and/or current issue
- open up line of sight at ramp exits / lights
- honeysuckle in the area (invasive species)
- traffic noise affecting nearby residential
- soil may be compressed in construction staging areas
- don’t create any plans that preclude a future sidewalk / bike path under Keystone Bridge
- need more community input on gateway concept – gateway to where? Nora community / neighborhoods (west)? Keystone businesses (east)?
Next Steps
KIB, with planner David Roth, will take the feedback they’ve gathered during this first meeting and put together some preliminary plans for the interchange. Within the next few weeks, the Nora Alliance will schedule a second public meeting to present and provide further input to the plans. With plans in hand, KIB will work with the community to identify funding for the project implementation and maintenance.
We welcome continued feedback during this process! If you would like to provide additional input while the plans are being developed, please contact Mark Adler, KIB Director of Special Projects.
