Indianapolis will receive $19.9 million in federal grant funding for roadway and pedestrian safety improvements, enabling the city to upgrade parts of Post Road and 30th Street.

The funds make up a large portion of the $26 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation earmarked for 13 Indiana communities through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which was signed into law in 2021, created the roadway safety program.

Indianapolis’ funds will go to the design and construction of upgrades to arterial streets and these six corridors, according to a release:

• Post Road between Washington Street & 38th Street
• East 30th Street between Rural Street & Franklin Road
• Lynhurst Drive between Morris Street & West 22nd Street
• East 42nd Street between Franklin Road & Mitthoefer Road
• Franklin Road between 30th & 42nd Street
• Thompson Road between East Street & Madison Avenue 

The project includes allocations for improving or constructing 11 miles of sidewalk, 18 mid-block crossings and 538 curb ramps. Funds will also be earmarked for 71 bus boarding areas.

Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a statement the new federal grant money from the Safe Streets and Roads for All program is significant.

“As a recipient of a grant through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, Indianapolis can keep its focus on a future where none of our neighbors lose a loved one in a preventable traffic crash,” he said. “This grant will allow us to make dramatic changes in the lives of many of our residents by ensuring that they feel safe any time they take a walk, ride their bike, or wait for public transit.”

In recent months, community leaders and city councilors have started to embrace pedestrian safety culture by backing Vision Zero initiatives, an international street safety concept that aims to prevent all pedestrian deaths from car crashes.

City administrators have actively been exploring street safety measures. The city commissioned engineering firm WSP to study safety measures on 38th Street, a major arterial road connecting Indianapolis’ east and west sides.

More: Speed limits on I-465 will soon change based on traffic conditions. Here’s what to know.

The study will help the city explore options like implementing new signal timings that will reduce speeds and considering reducing the number of lanes on the street, according to Kyle Bloyd, spokesperson for Indianapolis’ Department of Public Works.

In a budget pitch before the DOT award announcement, Mayor Joe Hogsett proposed allocating each city-county councilor $1 million to address up to three of their most hazardous intersections for improvement in their districts. The funds could also be divided for park improvements, according to staff.

Michael McDaniel is the city government reporter at IndyStar. He can be reached at mmcdaniel@indystar.com.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Temperatures could make a run at 90° later this week.

This morning:

Comfortably cool and quiet conditions across the area this morning, with temperatures hovering into the upper 40s and low 50s.

Monday:

Quiet weather today and still relatively comfortable. Look for temperatures to be about 5 to 10° warmer than what we experienced Sunday afternoon, with highs pushing into the upper 70s to around 80°.

Monday night:

Humidity will remain low and the conditions remain quiet heading into the evening and overnight hours. Low should dip down to the low to mid-50s.

Tuesday:

The warming trend will continue as we head through the middle of the week. Humidity will remain low for our Tuesday afternoon, but temperatures will be back to above-average levels. High should reach close to the mid-80s Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday:

Warmer temperatures are on the way for Wednesday, with highs back to near 90°. Dew point temperatures still remain in the lower end, so humidity is not a big factor heading into Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday:

Thursday will likely be the hottest day, but humidity again remains relatively low. High temperatures should top out around 90°.

Needed rain on the way?

Some much-needed rain chances could return for the end of the week and into the weekend thanks to a tropical system that is right now hanging out in the Gulf of Mexico. Now this tropical system likely makes landfall around Texas by midweek and eventually fills into the Midwest by late week. As the case is usually with tropical systems, this could potentially bring some heavy rainfall, which wouldn’t be a bad thing across our area since we’ve been running pretty dry. The best chances for rain right now appeared to be Friday afternoon and evening, but some of that rain could carry over into Saturday and possibly even into Sunday as well. Seven-day rainfall estimates put the heaviest rainfall axis in the southern half of the state and then south of the Ohio River.

7 day forecast:

Meanwhile, temperatures should fall back to near-normal levels thanks to this tropical system moving in with highs into the lower 80s as we head into the weekend and early next week.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Since the day he arrived in Indianapolis, Colts head coach Shane Steichen has been all about splash plays.

With injuries to quarterback Anthony Richardson and running back Jonathan Taylor last season, there weren’t too many players making a splash during the nine-win season. That’s changed as the Colts kicked off the 2024 season against the Houston Texans Sunday.

Richardson set the bar for explosiveness early with a 60-yard bomb to receiver Alec Pierce in the first quarter. Richardson made the throw into double coverage after slipping and launching off his back foot.

It’s the play of the year — so far — and was a major chunk of Pierce’s career-high 125 yards.

Forget the loss just for a minute. This is what the Colts want to see from their receivers every week.

“That’s what we were talking about, carrying that stuff over from training camp into the season,” Steichen said. “Obviously he made some big-time plays down the field for us today.”

“It feels good for sure,” Pierce said. “That’s what I pride myself in doing. I think it’s the best part of my game, so I’m glad to be able to do it for the team.”

“It’s awesome,” defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said. “It’s all his hard work he put in during the offseason. He had a great camp, and to see it all come to fruition, him taking the top off of the defense and creating those big plays, those 50-50 balls turn into 100 percenters, right? So it’s good and pretty cool to see.”

Pierce’s production shouldn’t overshadow the rest of the receiving corps, specifically Ashton Dulin. The six-year veteran lost his entire season last year after tearing his ACL during training camp.

His first game back, he almost one-upped Pierce with a 54-yard touchdown. Richardson said that wasn’t even the play call.

“That wasn’t even the route that we wanted to hit right there,” Richardson said. “I just saw the covers and I saw him running full-speed, and I was like I’ve got to give him the ball, and he did the rest. So, shoutout to him.”

“Just finally seeing Ashton back out there healthy,” running back Jonathan Taylor said. “It’s something special to see, because you just know the struggle it is to work yourself back, so to see it come to fruition on the field, I was super happy for him.”

This was just the first taste of how explosive this Colts offense can be.