Carl Cox has lived in West Indianapolis all of his 65 years of life and remembers what West Morris Street looked like in its prime about 50 years ago.
“This used to be a nice neighborhood,” Cox recalled. “There used to be pretty nice businesses there.”
A one-mile strip of the thoroughfare between Harding Street and Eagle Creek was its own self-contained town, with grocery and hardware stores, pharmacies, dentists offices, barber shops and a bridal shop. There was even a movie theater and bowling alley, and many folks worked at the General Motors stamping plant and a Chrysler factory.
The late 20th century decline in manufacturing hit the area hard, leaving it with a 35% poverty rate, or more than double the Indianapolis rate and triple the U.S. rate of 11.4%. Lately, however, there have been signs of a rebirth, including projects that cost $100 million for Elanco Animal Health Inc.’s headquarters and $30 million for Back 9 Golf and Entertainment.
One city project that was supposed to further help the area, though, has turned into somewhat of an albatross. City crews are working on a $10 million project to rebuild West Morris Street, a vital road through the area. But the road has been partially closed for a year and a half, and completion has been delayed from spring 2023 to fall 2024, largely due to a late start and crews uncovering signs of shoddy patchwork in the past.
The project will resurface roughly two miles of road, including new curbs, sidewalks, storm sewers, streetlights, trees and a multi-use path. But ongoing construction is causing headaches for residents who live near West Morris Street or depend on it for their commute.
“You’re seeing such an explosion and expansion on the southwest side of downtown right now, and it’s going to trickle out this way,” said Jonathan Howe, owner of CityDump Records, a recording studio based in West Indianapolis. “It has the ability to impact this community in a big way and give people opportunities they didn’t have before.”
Long detours and pulverized roads
For about a year and a half, a mile-long strip of the street has remained half-closed. The street is only accessible to westbound drivers between Harding Street and Eagle Creek, and some of the connecting streets have been intermittently closed for construction.
Parts of the street that remain open are being pulverized by heavy traffic, creating chuckholes and leaving large areas of the road without asphalt along the westernmost parts of the construction.
At West Morris Street and Belmont Avenue, construction has shifted from the south side lane to the north side, forcing drivers to switch lanes abruptly in the middle of an intersection.
Cox said he tries to avoid West Morris Street as much as he can now, but comes prepared when he has to travel to one of the few restaurants nearby.
“You need a game plan and a backup plan,” Cox said. “To go to Wendy’s, I can’t go the way I usually go. If you look out to the west, they put barricades on three of the four lanes, so people couldn’t even come into the Dairy Queen from some directions.”
The Dairy Queen on West Morris Street is only a few hundred feet from the end of the construction, but the detours required to return home from a visit there nearly triple the distance traveled for residents who live east of the restaurant. The added travel distance means residents use more time and gasoline, and they expose their vehicles to additional wear and tear.
For example: People living along South Warman Avenue — the closest street to the Dairy Queen — a 360-foot drive could turn into a nearly 3-mile drive.
Construction issues
The project initially was expected to start in late 2021 but was delayed to spring 2022. Then as work started, crews discovered an engineering problem caused by having to fix previous paving efforts. That extended the work by another couple months.
Engineers found that road fixes in previous decades had caused the asphalt at the edge of the road on the concrete base to erode. The asphalt was not the same thickness on the sides of the road as it was in the middle of the road or in the lanes.
Without fixing the problem, the outside edge of a lane would be steeper than in the middle, causing cars to pull away from the road and toward the curb.
Crews had to remove the old concrete pavement and rebuild the full pavement section.
“Sometimes we’re not able to obtain the data of what was done over the past,” said John Bowen, chief engineer for the Indianapolis Department of Public Works. “So, sometimes these things do happen, where we think we know what’s out there, and we get out there, and it’s just slightly different than what we originally anticipated.”
Public Works Director Brandon Herget said the delays were necessary to ensure the revitalization project achieves its aims.
“This is a $10 million project 10 years in the making,” he said. “I want to make sure that an investment that is that significant and that important to the community and called for for so long —- that we do it right.”
Road worn patience
Howe, the recording studio owner who also serves as treasurer of the West Indianapolis Neighborhood Congress, said he is worried that officials are not putting as many resources into the construction as they would in wealthier parts of the city.
“It just seems like time and time again we’re getting the short end of the stick just because we live in this neighborhood,” Howe said. “I find it hard to believe that if this was like the heart of Broad Ripple or some other place, that it would take two years to get five blocks of street done.”
Others have more patience.
Barry Doss, owner of Barry’s Pizza and Wings, said he believes the neighborhood will benefit from the construction despite delays. The pizzeria has been a mainstay of the neighborhood for more than 40 years.
“It’s definitely an improvement,” Doss said. “You start with that and you improve your neighborhood. Progress is progress if it’s good for the community. If it’s not good for your community, then it’s not progress. But for a short time what we’re gonna go through here as far as the inconvenience — we can live with it.”
Doss said construction has not greatly affected his business. Barry’s Pizza is located on the northern side of West Morris Street Street, the side of the street that remained open to traffic during construction.
Construction has begun on his side of the street, cutting off direct access from Morris Street. Doss remains hopeful that access to his restaurant via an empty lot accessible through neighboring Belmont Avenue will keep his business from taking the full economic brunt of the closure.
“Patience — it’s for the greater good,” Doss said.
The public works department said construction will be limited over the winter. Crews will continue with concrete work, such as curbs and sidewalks, and stormwater improvements. Asphalt paving will start again in the spring.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @heyEnriqueSaenz
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