Madison Avenue road diet delayed after crack found in retaining wall, ‘workers disappeared’

This article was written by Kara Kenney for WRTV.

A major road construction project on Indy’s south side has hit a snag and people who live nearby want to know why.

In September 2024, the City of Indianapolis announced a “road diet” project for Madison Avenue, which will shrink the number of lanes and add new curbs and sidewalks.

But nearly two years later, neighbors say construction work has stopped.

“It seemed like in a matter of days, all the workers were gone,” Clark Harris, a resident in the Bates Hendricks neighborhood, said.

Harris said the halt happened in July.

“It felt very strange,” Harris said. “All the workers disappeared.” Harris is also on the Bates Hendricks neighborhood board.

“They’re almost done, they’re like 80 percent there, and then this section right here by this train bridge is where the stoppage is,” Harris said.

Harris has been looking forward to the roadway improvements and the interurban paved trail, which will connect downtown to the south side.

Clark Harris lives in the Bates Hendricks neighborhood. Credit: WISH/WRTV

“There’s not a lot of love to the south side, so this was really exciting for us here,” Harris said.

Harris contacted Indiana’s I-Team to find out what’s going on with the road diet project on Madison Avenue.

Indiana’s I-Team took our questions to the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW).

Kyle Bloyd, Chief Communications Officer for Indy DPW, said construction crews ran into a problem while working on a new retaining wall for the Madison Avenue project.

“They found a small crack in that new retaining wall, and so our engineering team, the design team, have had to go back figure out what the cause of that is,” Bloys said. “It is still unknown what the exact cause of that is, and the exact fix is still unknown.”

DPW says as of now, the crack issue only impacts Phase 1 of the project, which runs from Ray Street to Pleasant Run Parkway North Drive.

Phase 1 was originally supposed to be completed at the end of this year.

“We’d probably need a couple of extra months following winter, and that would probably put us around June-ish of 2027,” Bloyd said.

The $47 million Madison Avenue Road Diet is a “Complete Streets” project that aims to improve road safety. It’s one of dozens of similar projects totaling $305 million scheduled over the next few years.

Nearly two years after it began, construction on Madison Avenue has stopped. Credit: WISH/WRTV

The money for the Madison Avenue project comes from city and federal funding, including multiple rounds of grants distributed by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (IMPO). Indiana’s I-Team asked DPW if the delays will cost the city more money.

“To be seen,” Bloyd said. “If construction crews have concerns, we simply aren’t going to sign off on it. We are going to get the project done right.”

We shared the new timeline with resident Clark Harris, who was not aware the project will now be finished in June 2027 rather than the end of this year.

“It’s a bummer for the residents around here, but it’s understandable,” Harris said. “It seemed very abrupt and it was concerning for me and other residents around here.”

The money for the Madison Avenue project comes from city and federal funding.

It will remove two lanes, sixteen miles of street will be repaved and new curbs and sidewalks will be added. It will also introduce the Interurban Trail, which will connect downtown with the south side.

Here’s where the rest of the Madison Avenue road diet project stands

Phase 2: Martin Street to Hanna Avenue- expected to finish fall 2027.
Phase 3: Pleasant Run Parkway North to Martin Street- expected to finish end of 2028.