Fewer crashes and reduced speed shown in tactical urbanism project

Traffic barriers to slow down drivers and reduce crashes showed promise on Indianapolis’s east-side.

Indianapolis’s Community Heights neighborhood was part of a project that installed temporary, camo-colored barriers along a stretch of 10th St last year.  It is part of a new movement called ‘tactical urbanism,’ which aims to improve public awareness of good urban design, inspire change or collect data.

Leslie Schulte, former president of Community Heights Neighborhood Organization, says new data shows it worked to improve safety.

“With our design… center median and protections for the bike lanes… that design induces drivers to obey the speed limit,” Schulte said.

Shulte presented findings at a community meeting this month. One significant data point showed that with the barriers up, drivers slowed from about 42 mph to around 36 mph. The speed limit along the stretch is 35 mph.

“Now that's all pretty exciting news, right? Speeding is limited in its severity and frequency. The even more exciting news was around crashes,” Shulte said.

Shulte said crashes dropped from about 30 in 2022 to 8 in the same time period in 2023, along the same one-mile stretch of 10th St.  She said one of the crashes resulted in a fatality in 2022. The study also found drivers stopped using the center turn lane to pass.

The neighborhood group partnered with the city for the traffic calming project.

The 10th St project was in reaction to people in the east side neighborhood who reported speeding and reckless driving. Indianapolis has experienced a rise in pedestrian fatalities in recent years.

“We are going to have to make the case that East 10th St is a regionally important corridor,” Shulte said.
The Indianapolis Department of Public Works will offer the tactical urbanism program to communities again this spring.

Contact WFYI city government and policy reporter Jill Sheridan at jsheridan@wfyi.org.