(NOBLESVILLE, Ind.) – Noblesville is planning to start an overhaul of its downtown traffic next year.
Mayor Chris Jensen said in his State of the City address the city will break ground next year on two new roundabouts on State Road 32 near Riverview Hospital. A third groundbreaking will kick off a $125 million expansion of Pleasant Street, one of the city’s two main east-west roads.
Jensen says the expansion has been under discussion for 34 years, and is more than 20 years overdue. He says the project will reduce downtown traffic nearly 30% and dramatically improve access to downtown. He says the city’s goal of sparking downtown development can’t advance if people can’t get there.
Noblesville’s road-building blitz actually began this year, with the widening of Olio Road and 146th Street on the way to Ruoff Music Center, and a new roundabout where the two streets cross near the concert venue.
Jensen says the city will open a new apartment-and-retail development downtown by the end of next week. A second mixed-use project on the former Marsh supermarket property west of downtown is under construction, with the grand opening planned for next winter.