For many westsiders, driving around the city is more difficult than a few years ago.
Roadwork, it feels like, is just about everywhere. Some projects, such as the 16th Street bridge over the White River and the conversion of 29th and 30th streets to two-way travel, were undertaken to improve deteriorating infrastructure and improve safety. Another major project, IndyGo’s Blue Line, will give people a way to get from the Indianapolis International Airport to Cumberland quickly and safely.
But the temporary pain is real too. The projects have closed routes for some drivers, forcing them to find other ways to get to and from work. Some are beginning just a few months after the completion of other yearslong projects.
Shelton Figley is among those neighbors starting to lose their patience.
Figley, 68, has lived in his West Washington Street home for the past dozen years. On most weekdays, he hears the racket from construction crews working on the Blue Line.
It can be triggering for the veteran.
“It starts at 7:30 in the morning. It sounds like the whole world’s falling apart,” he said, “and I’m a Navy vet, so the first thing I’m thinking about is ‘Where’s the bomb at?’”
Besides the construction noise, Figley said the detours and traffic restrictions have led to confusion among residents and people driving through.
“People worry about somebody parking the wrong way or something else. It’s just nuts. Even if the signs say ‘No left turn,’ they still try to turn left,” he said.
Evelyn Estevez, the owner of DBO Hair Studios, 2626 W. Washington St., learned long ago that the best way to get to work was to avoid West Washington Street altogether.
For nearly two years, delays in construction on the West Washington Street bridge over Little Eagle Creek blocked the route to her business. She and her clients couldn’t get to her salon without zigzagging through the west side.
When the bridge construction was completed last year, she breathed a sigh of relief. But when Blue Line construction reached her part of West Washington Street in early September, the traffic troubles started again.
Cars can only go east now, and the street right in front of her salon is next to be torn up for new storm sewers.
Estevez believes West Washington Street does need improvement, but she’s concerned the detours and slow pace of construction could scare away clients.
“We get clientele from all over Indianapolis, and even outside of Indianapolis and outside Indiana,” she said. “It is overwhelming for people to deal with the traffic, especially if they don’t know the area.”
Here’s what we know about the construction projects and when they should be complete.
More Blue Line work ahead
IndyGo estimates Blue Line storm sewer construction on West Washington Street from Belmont to Rockville Road will continue until March 2027.
Work on the next stretch of the project, which goes from Rockville to Holt roads, has already begun and will last until 2028.
Until then drivers can only go eastbound through West Washington Street. To travel west, drivers will have to take North White River Parkway Drive West to West Michigan Street.
16th Street bridge construction
The rehabilitation of the 16th Street bridge over the White River is scheduled to last until the end of 2028, but could be open to traffic sooner.
Residents and business owners asked Department of Public Works Director Todd Wilson to keep half the bridge open while crews worked on the other half, but he refused that request citing worker safety concerns.
The bridge, though, will remain open to pedestrians.
Wilson said the department would do several things to bring in the project safely ahead of time, including increasing the number of workers, allowing night shifts and pushing utility companies to speed up their parts of the project.
Until then, the bridge is closed to drivers but remains open to pedestrians and cyclists. Drivers can detour south to 10th Street or across 30th Street via Lafayette Road and then Cold Spring Road.
29th and 30th streets
A 2.5-mile stretch of 29th Street, from the White River to Central Avenue, and a 2-mile portion of 30th Street, from the White River to Meridian Street are being converted to two-way streets.
The projects, though, have reduced travel to one lane in either direction and will continue until next spring.
The project began earlier this year at around the same time the 30th Street bridge reopened after being closed for about four years for construction.
You can check the project’s progression at its dedicated DPW website.
Lynhurst Road culvert replacement
A 600-foot portion of South Lynhurst Drive between Jackson Street and Bertha Street has been closed since May for a $2.5-million culvert rehabilitation project.
Since then, drivers have had to make a 3-mile detour.
The work was expected to be completed in late August, but it continues today. DPW says work will continue until the end of 2027 due to utility relocation conflicts with Citizens Energy Group and Comcast.
Holt Road/Minnesota Road drainage improvements
A $4.7 million project to replace drainage infrastructure near the Indiana National Guard headquarters has slowed traffic at parts of Holt Road from the Sam Jones Expressway to Minnesota Street.
According to DPW, the project should be completed in the first quarter of 2027.
White River Innovation District
Construction at the White River Innovation District includes the Greenlawn Memorial Bridge and infrastructure near the Elanco Animal Health global headquarters. A portion of South White River Parkway Drive West is closed and a traffic signal has been installed on Oliver Avenue.
In September, bridge crews were installing railing and lighting. DPW believes the bridge will be open by early 2027, but construction in the district will continue until the third quarter of 2027.
The Elanco headquarters opened October 2025, but plans to expand White River State Park next to it were scrapped due to a lack of available funding.
And that’s not all
In 2027, a few major projects will most likely add to the west side’s traffic woes.
Blue Line construction on West Washington Street will end at Holt Road, but a DPW project will rebuild the street from Holt to Lynhurst Drive.
The project will rehabilitate existing pavement, install new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant multi-use paths and sidewalks, upgrade traffic signals and help drainage.
According to DPW, construction is expected to begin in spring 2027 and last until 2029.
Another project will cut off a portion of South Tibbs Avenue for a culvert replacement. The construction at 707 S. Tibbs Avenue is planned to happen from early 2027 until about summer.
Stay safe out there.
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Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
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