13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |IUPUI rolls out plan for growth

IUPUI rolls out plan for growth

Mary Milz/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - IUPUI is looking to the future. It expects enrollment to jump from 30,000 to 35,000 over the next ten years. A new master plan looks to accommodate that growth and create more of 24-hour urban campus.

IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz called the plan "a road map for the next 20 years." He said it covered the design, facilities, the grounds around them and the building needs.

Bantz said any expansion of the campus would involve building up, not out.

"The idea is to make it feel more like a city, more dense, with the buildings closer together and taller, yet having nice outdoor spaces where you don't feel confined," he said.

The plan also calls for more student housing, going from 1,100 campus beds to 3,500. He said, "almost all of it would go on Vermont next to the campus center."

Parking is another issue. "We're short. We need more parking spaces," Bantz said, especially on the edges of campus. He said that would reduce some of the traffic congestion creating by people driving to closer in lots.

Jackie Lewis, a freshman, said more parking would be great. "I only live 20 minutes away but it takes an hour to get here because of all the traffic."

Bantz said changing some traffic patterns is also a high priority. The plan calls for making New York and Michigan, now one-way streets, into two-way streets. He said that change, along with slowing traffic, would make it safer for pedestrians.

Michael Carroll Stadium, the site of many prestigious track and field events, was initially left out of the master plan, but Bantz said, "It's back in the design."

He said IUPUI hoped to put artificial turf in the center so it also can be used to play soccer. But the tennis stadium, nearly 30 years old, may not host too many more tournaments "because no one thinks the facility will survive another 20 years."

The Indianapolis Tennis Championships are in the fourth of a five-year contract. Bantz stresses the master plan is just that, a plan, but one the university will study closely in the years ahead.

The Indiana University Board of Trustees will vote on it during their monthly meeting Friday.

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