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1st project in Monon Trail expansion expected to be finished in 2022

The Department of Public Works is widening the popular, 10-mile stretch from 10th to 96th streets by up to 4 feet, as well as resurfacing and updating its signage.

INDIANAPOLIS — Bicyclists and pedestrians will soon start to see improvements on the Monon Trail as construction gets underway to widen the path from 10th to 96th streets.

The Department of Public Works is widening the popular, 10-mile stretch by up to 4 feet, as well as resurfacing and updating its signage.

Design on this project began five years ago.

DPW is in the first of two projects, with construction happening in segments up to 56th Street. The second project, which is not under contract yet, will move north from 56th to 96th streets.

Some homeowners with properties next to the Monon are voicing concerns that part of the expansion is on their property.

"We're not building anything on anybody's private property. It will all be built in the public right-of-way," DPW spokesperson Ben Easley said. "I would say a lot of times, those lines were a little bit less than understood in the past, and so that's what we've been doing in the past year or so, showing what those actual delineations are so that when we go to build our project, it's entirely in the right-of-way."

Credit: WTHR
DPW is asking that users stay off the Monon until the asphalt is put down. The first project up to 56th Street is expected to be complete by the end of 2022.

According to Easley, the trail is a former rail-line and in the public right-of-way. As the rail-line moved out, many built connections into the trail or did landscaping. DPW had to figure out if it was on the public right-of-way or private, purchasing land on either side to allow for enough space to widen.

Crews will first put down what looks like gravel before laying down asphalt. DPW is asking that users stay off the Monon until the asphalt is put down.

DPW expects to finish this first project up to 56th Street by the end of 2022.

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