Just north of Greenwood and south of 465, the intersection of Madison Avenue and Stop 11 is circled on the map in red
Incidents
February 9, 2024 / Pedestrian Death (reviewed by FCRB / 904452446)
January 2, 2023 / Pedestrian Death (reviewed by FCRB / 904196509)
December 20, 2022 / Pedestrian Death (reviewed by FCRB / 904180181)
July 22, 2019 / Cyclist Death (pre-dates FCRB)
10 other non-death Ped/Cyclist incidents since 2015 (added a known AUG 2024 incident that is not included in current MPO data)
Madison Avenue is also party of the Indy MPO's High Injury Network. You can learn more about the High Injury Network and view the map here: Maps | MPO (indympo.org). An interesting thing to note about the High Injury Network that's not ever pointed out in the FCRB reports, is how it often mirrors IndyGo's network map. If you look at Image B, both Madison and Emerson are on the High Injury Network.
Including all incidents within about an 1/8 of a mile of the intersection.
Image A1 / Indy MPO crash data of this area from 2015 thru May 2024. Red dot is vehicle. Blue dot is pedestrian. Green dot is cyclist. Dark red outline is a death.
What does the Fatal Crash Review Board say?
Not much. If a project is in the pipeline, they generally defer to that project. They acknowledge that the crossings here are too long, the sidewalks are incomplete, and two of the crossing don't have a signal or crosswalks. The most recent incident in February, they didn't even bother to write a recommendation.
What's the project that's in the pipeline? That would be the Interurban Trail. This project is barely in the planning stages (external link to Circle City Forward: Phase 3 page), so it's hard to argue that immediate changes shouldn't be considered. Like the plan below? Use it to influence the project!
Immediate Term Changes
Eliminate the right turn slip lanes with jersey barriers. This shortens the distance of the crossing and the risk of right hooks. Crossing distance massively affects the danger of any given crossing. Eliminate signal conflicts with leading pedestrian intervals (may already be the case). Block duplicative driver access to businesses (conflict points).
Following through with these non-permanent changes would be a DRAMATIC culture shift for the city and DPW. It will take a mandate from the council and mayor to make non-permanent changes. This is an issue that should be pushed and is our biggest current failure in this crisis.
One additional suggestion that isn't on the map below is the possibly excessive number of left turn lanes on Stop 11. You could easily block the lane closest to the median on both sides with barrels or jersey barriers to remove one of the two turn lanes and create a pedestrian island. The potential problem with that is backing up traffic and making mid-block crossings even more dangerous. If you look at the incident map (Image A1 above), you can see that multiple incidents have involved people attempting to cross mid-block.
Image A2 / The orange dashes on the map are jersey barriers. They can be concrete or plastic (filled with water). Two driveways are also eliminated.
It's crazy and basically negligence that crosswalks don't exist on the west and south segments of this intersection. This area is completely surrounded by numerous apartment complexes and one of the few bus lines that operate this far south. As this project continues, you will notice that incidents often occur near bus stops with inadequate pedestrian infrastructure.
Image B / IndyGo route map of the area. Madison and Stop 11 circled in red.
Long Term Changes
Firstly, it's feasible that the Red Line could someday be extended down Madison to Greenwood. There would obviously be a stop here. They could even call it Stop 11! I'm sure we'll have learned some BRT design lessons that would be implemented in this hypothetical extension.
Since we're not ready to extend the BRT network and the planned network is still a few years from completion, we'll assume changes like that aren't in the pipeline. I think the best place to start is to note that Madison doesn't connect to an interstate and neither does Stop 11. These are not essential arteries for car travel, yet they're designed like hurricane evacuation routes. It's time to undo that mistake.
Madison Avenue and Stop 11 should become essential ped/bike corridors. This intersection is located in Perry Township. Perry does not currently have safe ped/bike access to Center Township (downtown). Madison is the perfect street to focus on. In fact, both the city of Indianapolis and Greenwood already agree on this idea. Greenwood has already converted a segment to three lanes and a protected bike lane and Indy has a plan to bring the Interurban trail to Madison from downtown to the County Line.
Image C / Greenwood's separated lane on Madison just south of Fry Road
That's great news for North/South travel, but Perry Township also lacks safe ped/bike access to Decatur Township* to the west and Franklin Township to the east. In fact, there is no safe east/west corridor that connects the three southern townships in any way. Stop 11 could be the way. The Stop 11 corridor includes numerous elementary schools, Perry High School, Perry Park, and the Baxter YMCA.
*One quick aside before the plan. Stop 11 doesn't actually make it to Decatur Township. It's extremely difficult to get to Decatur Township from Perry Township because of I69 and the White River. There are a few options for crossing I69, but only Southport Road and I465 cross the river. Needless to say, these are both terrible options for ped/bike.
THE PLAN!
Build a roundabout
Create space for the Interurban trail on Madison Avenue
Create space for a protected lane on Stop 11
Shorten the crossing distances for pedestrians
Change the sight lines for drivers to slow them down
When Hoosiers hear the word roundabout, their thoughts naturally turn to Carmel, IN. I looked to Carmel first for inspiration, but what I quickly started to notice was how optimized Carmel's roundabouts were for cars only. They didn't have any good examples of two separated bike/ped lanes meeting at a roundabout. So naturally, my next stop was Amsterdam. As I wandered around their grid looking for the right piece of infrastructure, I stumbled upon the Vlindermolen Roundabout (external link). I've got a few pictures below and want to talk about why I like this configuration so much.
Image D / We'll start with the approach on what would be Madison. Right away you notice the sight lines. You can't even see the other side of the intersection, the lanes aren't 12 feet wide, there are trees. Lots of signals that this isn't a place for high speed. Both lanes go straight and it's clear where you need to be if you don't want to go straight.
Image E / Next, the entry point. I love the lane delineation with the raised stones. I'm calling them rumblers, and they are the red lines on the mock-up. You could easily drive over these, but it's a subtle signal that you're doing something you shouldn't. You've also got a short crossing with an island in the middle for the ped/bike lane. This would need to be better protected by curbs/bollards in Indiana. If the crossing is too busy for peds/bikes, you could add a stop light that they could trigger or even automatic sensors that activate the light.
Image F / Inside the roundabout. Once again you see the raised stone. Paint fades fast in Indiana and something like this makes it much more obvious where you should be.
Image G / This is the view from what would be the Stop 11 side. Want to show this to get another view of the raised stones. The placement here discourages drivers going straight from this position from taking the turn wider and at a higher speed. A really lovely touch.
Image H / What our intersection could look like with the Vlindermolen treatment. The red lines on the approaches and inside the roundabout are raised stone (Rumblers). Everything else is explained on the legend. My scale is probably not perfect, so you've got 15 ft of buffer (the green) area on Madison and 20 ft (Green and Yellow) on Stop 11. This should provide lots of flexibility as the right of way (RoW) changes if you extend this in all directions. The yellow on Stop 11 is flex space. Hopefully tree-lined most of the time, but could be a turn lane if needed or squeeze space if the RoW gets squeezed.
This type of roundabout could be repeated throughout Madison at intersections that warrant the size (Southport, County Line, etc.). Lots of neighborhood and minor streets would lose their ability to turn left and would use the roundabouts at the next block to do so, which is a huge increase in safety for everybody.
Stop 11 would receive a significant road diet in this plan and look more like the Greenwood image above (Image C). That means Stop 11's intersections would need to be tailored to whatever road it's intersecting. You'd have a pretty simple roundabout at Sherman, but Emerson might look something more like this intersection with Madison. It doesn't even have to be all roundabouts, but there are big safety benefits to making that switch.
You could make the argument that Madison should also get the same road diet that Stop 11 is receiving in this plan. I have zero issues accepting that note/adjustment, but I wanted to demonstrate that the current footprint could accommodate four lanes.
Next, corner gas stations are an abomination to ped/bike safety and building them like the two at the south side of this intersection should be strictly forbidden by city code. With Jim Brainard-like powers, I would remove them. Unfortunately, that seems unlikely. I've cut them both down to two driveways and connected them to adjacent lots to gain access to safer driveways for all users. I'm guessing this would be difficult to make happen, but it's a very important change for whichever side of Madison ends up with the Interurban Trail. Which leads me to my last point....
There's one thing I don't like about this plan and that's which side of Madison the Interurban trail should be located. Greenwood already made the first move and placed it on the west side of the street. My instinct was to stick with that, BUT if this all gets built from Indianapolis to Greenwood, you're going to end up with an extremely problematic crossing where East Street and Madison merge. I would probably make the transition somewhere between Hannah and East. But if you put it on the east side of the street the entire way, you have to eventually cross Madison to get to where Greenwood already placed their portion. This would likely occur at Fry Road.
Council District
Thanks for visiting District 23! My goal is to feature an unsafe location in all 25 council districts. Council District 23 is an oddly shapely district that goes as far north as University of Indianapolis and as far south as the county line. It includes both Perry Meridian HS, Southport HS and our focus today, the intersection of Madison Avenue and Stop 11 Road.
Derek Cahill is the representative for District 23
Joined council in 2024 and could be reelected/challenged in 2028
I truly do not care what political party a City Councilor is affiliated with, so that will not be listed in these posts. Any person can be an ally or an adversary in this fight, as safety advocates have already discovered.
Contact Derek Cahill:
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Other Involved Districts
Madison and Stop 11 both extend into other districts, so let your councilors know if you see something you like or have other ideas of your own!
District 18 (next district north) Kristin Jones200 E. Washington St., Suite T441 Indianapolis, IN 46204 317.680.6869 |  |
District 22 (next district west) Paul Annee 200 E. Washington St., Suite T441 Indianapolis, IN 46204 317.523.5056 |  |
District 24 (next district east) Michael Dilk 200 E. Washington St., Suite T441 Indianapolis, IN 46204 317.698.3455 |  |
District 25 (farthest east district) Brian Mowery 200 E. Washington St., Suite T441 Indianapolis, IN 46204 317.373.2890 |  |
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