Noblesville ‘Reimagine Pleasant Street’ project underway, on schedule

Noblesville, Indiana – Work crews in Noblesville are advancing on a significant, multi-year infrastructure undertaking.

Residents of Noblesville expressed their expectation that increased population growth will lead to better mobility in crowded regions.

“It’s growing. It’s going to continue to grow,” Denise Tague said. “They’re trying to make it better and better.”

Tague has managed Alexander’s on the Square for more than 20 years, giving him a front-row seat to growing traffic and congestion downtown.

“That’s the price of doing business,” Tague said. “But we want people to feel like they can come down and enjoy themselves, and not worry about how long it’s going to take them to get here.”

Tague expressed her excitement for the $125 million “Reimagine Pleasant Street” project’s completion, which would create a new east-west corridor that will facilitate better access to downtown retailers.

“All said and done, this project will reduce traffic by about 30% in our downtown,” Mayor Chris Jensen said.

Phase one of the project is already well underway, according to Mayor Chris Jensen. The White River bridge’s foundation has been laid. The opening of two new roundabouts on 8th Street is slated for next month, a day that local Mindy Walden feels can’t come fast enough.

“Every one of our cars has been hit from the traffic,” Walden said.

Since work started, traffic has been temporarily rerouted down small residential streets, which has alarmed Walden and her neighbors.

“It’s just danger,” Walden said. “Mary Jo is a senior citizen, neighbors are senior citizens. People just don’t pay attention to pedestrians.”

Every traffic pattern change, according to Jensen, has growing pains.

“Anytime you put a new corridor through an urban core, there’s going to be some pain and we’ve tried to lessen that as much as we can to make sure that we’re listening, giving the time to residents and, and making sure it’s a safe area for folks to be,” he said.

To begin going, the city had to purchase dozens of homes. According to Jensen, all homeowners and business owners impacted by phase one have received offers.

“We’re working diligently and being as respectful as possible to any residents and businesses along the way to compensate them fairly and find them adequate accommodations in Noblesville going forward,” Jensen said. “We’ve had a good outreach coalition in place. Nothing’s ever perfect when it comes to a project like this but I think we’ve done a pretty good job.”

According to Jensen, the properties impacted by phases two and three—which will be under construction in 2019—are going through the legal procedures. The project is expected to be finished by fall of 2025.