Indianapolis is moving forward with plans to turn defunct State Fair Train route into 8-mile trail

After decades of debate about the best use for the rail corridor through the Binford Boulevard area to the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis has made a decision.

It wants a trail.

The city has submitted plans to the state to convert the railroad tracks that run parallel to Allisonville Road and Binford Boulevard, the Nickel Plate line, into an 8.6 mile greenway that would connect Fishers and Noblesville to Downtown Indianapolis.

The city and suburbs jointly applied for a $3.5 million trails grant from the Department of Natural Resources to build the first phase of the path from 96th Street, where Indianapolis and Fishers meet, to 63rd Street. Indianapolis would match the DNR Next Level Trails 2019 award with $1.9 million of its own for a combined $5.4 million, according to a copy of the application obtained by IndyStar.

The final phase would extend the trail from 62nd Street to the Indiana State Fairgrounds at 39th street. From there, bicyclists and joggers would be able to jut over to the Monon Trail, which runs south to Downtown Indianapolis and north to Carmel, or to the Fall Creek Trail, which winds to Fort Benjamin.

The route would be the city's most ambitious trail development since completion of the 7.5 mile Cultural Trail Downtown in 2012 and would serve as a complement to the Monon Trail, finished in the early 2000s.

IndyStar first reported plans for the Indianapolis leg of the trail last August, but Indianapolis officials cautioned then that interest was preliminary and they would seek community support before making anything official.

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Department of Public Works Director Dan Parker said that has been done.

"We received overwhelming support for a project that would connect neighborhoods to the Indiana State Fairgrounds," Parker said last week in an email to IndyStar. "As long as there is support from Indy neighborhoods, DPW will continue to explore options for funding and constructing a Nickel Plate Trail along this corridor.”

Supporters include the neighborhood groups Binford Redevelopment and Growth and the Greater Allisonville Community Council, as well as political and civic leaders. Letters of support also were submitted by U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, the Indy Chamber and the Indiana State Fair Commission.

"The prospect of creating connectivity from the Monon Trail to the Nickel Plate Trail is exciting and very much welcomed by the Indiana State Fair Commission," Cindy Hoye, executive director of the Indiana State Fair Commission, wrote in support of the plan. "As you are aware, we host more than 2 million visitors annually on our grounds, so having an active trail along our perimeter is extremely appealing to us and our future guests."

Construction of the first leg could begin in the summer of 2021, and the second phase, for which the city would seek an additional grant of $5 million, could begin in 2022, according to the application to the DNR.

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The cities said in their application that the trail would be an outdoor amenity that benefits the region.

"The Nickel Plate Trail project serves as a catalyst that will bring social, economic, and healthy living opportunities to multiple Indiana communities and create the type of amenities that young professionals are seeking," the application reads.

The plan to make a greenway of the tracks settles years of consideration of the corridor as a mass transit route. Those plans, over time, included bus rapid transit, trolley-style light rail, an elevated "guideway" system akin to a monorail and even an underground subway design. All were eventually scrapped as too expensive or impractical,

As support for rapid transit to the suburbs waned, Fishers and Noblesville announced in early 2017 plans to tear out the Nickel Plate tracks and construct a 9-mile trail through the suburbs. By that time the two cities had discontinued the fair train because they said the tracks were unsafe. Indianapolis joined the cities in their successful federal application to remove the tracks.

Fishers' part of the project will be a greenway 4.5 miles long that runs from 146th Street to 96th Street, where it would meet the new Indianapolis trail near Hague Road. Fishers officials are well into the planning process and have issued bonds to pay at least $9 million for the trail, which will include a tunnel under 116th Street.

Initial plans called for Noblesville to build its own 4.5-mile stretch from Pleasant Street to 146th Street, but that city has not started planning yet.

Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman, a champion of making the route a rapid transit corridor, said she supports the trail plan.

"The project will bring new investment and attract young talent to choose Indiana as their home," she wrote.

Mark Flanary, executive Director of Binford Redevelopment and Growth, said the trail would improve connectivity with Hamilton County and enhance both areas.

"Rail to trail would boost our property values," Flanary wrote. "The trail would enhance the desirability and value of the homes and neighborhoods they connect to."

The Next Level Trails program makes $90 million available this year for regional and local trail proposals. Gov. Eric Holcomb announced the first round of recipients in March: $25 million to 17 communities and nonprofit organizations. The Indianapolis proposal was not among those selected but is still eligible to receive a grant in subsequent rounds.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.