Project Overview

Our tactical urbanism project in the historic Chatham Arch neighborhood of Indianapolis will transform two key intersections, 10th Street & Park Avenue and 10th Street & Broadway—into age-safer spaces with curb bulb outs. We had a total ask of $7,500 from AARP to complete the neighborhood’s vision.

Led by the Chatham Arch Neighborhood Association, our approach hopes to utilize volunteer-driven community-building activities to implement temporary traffic calming measures at these intersections.

In step with priorities of Indianapolis’s recent Vision Zero initiative, we will enhance pedestrian safety, strengthen social ties, and create a more age-friendly

streetscape. With over 31% of Chatham Arch residents over the age of 50, this project directly addresses the needs of a significant portion of the neighborhood.

The project will align with Indianapolis Department of Public Works standards for Tactical Urbanism and will include public art, flex posts, and bulb outs as eligible projects under city code. The idea is to create a project that can be used to collect data and help prioritize these intersections for permanent infrastructure improvements.

Project Need

Continual surveys of neighborhood residents have indicated speeding makes 10th Street a problem to cross, affecting quality of life. With the popular Bottleworks District to the east, more folks than ever are utilizing 10th, leading to more traffic, and greater safety concerns for older walkers

Our process for this grant application has combined data-driven analysis, resident input, and expert guidance. We began by collecting data as a snapshot of the demographic profile of the neighborhood. Chatham Arch residents are older and

contain more vulnerable folks as a percent of its population than Marion County as a whole. Our older population both bikes and walks more than the county as a whole.

By centering the needs of older residents (nearly a third of neighborhood residents), this initiative hopes to demonstrate how low-cost, high-impact interventions can create healthier, more connected communities. Traffic calming isn’t just about slowing cars—it’s about elevating people, reclaiming space, and ensuring that every generation can safely and actively engage with their neighborhood.