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In a January legislative compromise, Indianapolis city officials agreed to “reevaluate” and eventually remove no-turn-on-red restrictions at three downtown intersections near an Indiana Statehouse parking lot.
The compromise between Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration and Statehouse Republicans required that Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis) withdraw legislation that would force Indianapolis traffic leaders to remove all of the no-turn-on-red signs installed in downtown Indianapolis under a 2023 ordinance.
In addition, the compromise included a one-year moratorium on the installation of more signs and, as IBJ recently learned, the reevaluation of some intersections based on the recommendation of state lawmakers.
“In order to protect the city’s ability to implement future traffic safety measures in the places where our residents and traffic safety engineers believe they are most needed, the city agreed to pause on mass installations of new No Turn On Red signage to allow for the study period, and to also re-evaluate certain intersections at the request of state legislators,” Department of Public Works spokesman Kyle Bloyd told IBJ in an email.
The three “reevaluated” intersections are just north of a parking lot that state legislators use during the annual General Assembly. The lots are all along Ohio Street, at the intersections of Senate Avenue, Capitol Avenue and West Street.
Bloyd said in an email that no other signs were taken down as part of the compromise. Signs were placed at those intersections as part of the initial 97 restrictions that were announced via the city’s website. Notice of plans to install no-turn-on-red signs at intersections are required by the ordinance to be posted 90 days prior an installation.
The ordinance was intended to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety after the city said it saw a record 40 pedestrian deaths in 2022. At a press conference announcing the measure last year, city leaders cited a five-year study conducted by Department of Public Works engineers that found 56.7% of vehicle-pedestrian collisions in the downtown area were at stoplights where drivers failed to yield. Outside of downtown, that percentage is just 25%.
There were no recent instances in which drivers crashed into pedestrians or cyclists at the three intersections, according to a database of these incidents managed by activist Eric Holt. The database goes back nearly two years.
He told IBJ that the compromise is emblematic of the Republican-led Statehouse.
“Legislators don’t want No Turn on Red signs in their own front yard, while failing to grasp the fact that in their back yard we are in the midst of a nationwide crisis that Indianapolis is disproportionally affected by, due to our aging infrastructure that prioritizes cars over people,” Holt said in a written statement. “It also sets a very poor standard that we must have documentation of incidents at a specific location to warrant any type of preventative initiatives. This is about preventing injuries and death.”
Freeman did not respond to a call seeking comment. Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray declined to comment through a spokesperson.
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