Making the Case for Indy Commuter Rail: Part 3a 146th St. Stop
146th St w/ Wilsonville, Oregon inlay (click to enlarge)
Welcome to part 3 of the series, Making the Case for Indy Commuter rail. In this first part of section 3, I will be breaking down what the plans for the 146th street station may look like. In breaking down where the stations for the initial line will be, 146th street seems to be the general area agreed upon to put the station. Back in December, I visited the intersection of 146th street and the rail line and found that at this very intersection lies an established commercial and residential center. Also, if you have driven during rush hour and live on the north side, you know that 146th street can be quite the obstacle to navigate. I recently drove from Pendleton (just south of Anderson) to Zionsville (northwest suburb) and took 146th street across from Exit 10 off of I-69. It took me just at an hour to make it across during rush hour. This is very indicitave of a clogged thruway. I dont even need the traffic figures to tell you that. That withstanding, 146th street, and commuters in general, have a lot to gain by putting a station in this area.
As pointed out though, this presents a problem. If we drop our eyes south a bit, we can see that 141st street is also a good placement option. There is a large parcel of open land which appears to be farmed there which would be good for plotting this station. You will see on my attached photo, a pasted image (outlined in red), to scale, of a similar stop in the Portland, Oregon area. They recently opened up a similar non-electric commuter line to compliment their already superior mass transit system. In studying what they did, I used the farthest terminal as a comparison for my post. This is, the Wilsonville Station (click for Wikipedia description). Upon further examination, they have built a robust, albeit small, transit center that would fit PERFECTLY into the context of what could be the 146th/141st street station in Indianapolis. You will notice the parking lot with 400 automobile park and ride spots, plus a number of bus drop offs, with shelters. The bus stops being the assumed circulators for the area.
East side of 146th St bordering the tracks & retention pond bordering tracks
As you can observe on my crudely constructed cut n paste, this area can fit a parking structure, has the room to provide rapid bus pickup and drop off, and also being that it is a low density area on the east side of the track, provide an area for later development. One last advanatage of building in this area, is that planners can take advantage of the vast open space to create a "siding" (a sort of passing lane for trains) for the station to sit on. In the future, developers hope to make this system 2 tracks and thinking ahead about how to design some of that in now inexpensively could go a long way in avoiding headache when the money is generated for such expansion.
Other factors of green building for planners to consider include storm drainage issues. Recent improvements in construction materials have led to the development of permeable pavement, a kind of porous drainable pavement. Although this may not be a permanent solution, in conjuction with some good design ethics it could aid in the run off that a large parking lot would bring. The cultural trail located downtown, has integrated "rain gardens" into it's design; structures that capture and slowly drain storm water back into the ground without taking heavy pollutants with it. These are only a few of the things planners must consider when designing this endpoint of the line.
West side of the tracks, typical suburban sprawl
The major advantage to placing a station here, is that one of the goals of the system is to take cars off the road, and eliminate air pollution. In locating next to some established dense suburban neighborhoods, one can expect to attract a lot of the residents of said neiborhoods. The other side being open, allows for some urban-ication of an otherwies suburban area. Hopefully, even more dense, and multimodal development can occur in this area that is known for its wide roads, and fast traffic; and in the process maybe aleviate some of the not-so-walkable areas of the highway 37 thru-way.
Wilsonville, Oregon Stop (photo credit: M.O. Stevens)
When one considers what the actual station may look like, the traditional view is to think of an enclosed structure with walls of some sort containing a ticket booth, waiting area and all the foo-foo that might come when you visit a tour service pitching rides along an historic train route with an old steam locomotive. When considering our modern setting, and the plot of land that most stations (not this one) will have to work with, the picture I have attached is what one may expect to come across. Again, I reference the Wilsonville, Oregon stop. I have attached the picture from the Wilsonville Wikipedia page taken by M.O. Stevens. You will notice the simplicity of it's design. Being that Indianapolis is subject to some traditionally cold, and sometimes snowy weather, we may be able to expect a bit more coverage. By and large though, modern stations on outskirts of rail systems look much like what I show here. Tickets are usually dispensed through a sort of vending machine apparatus. The only other things I can think of that one may expect to encounter at the stations, are public art displays from local artists, and many bike racks for those mulitmodal minded people wishing to not clog up the parking lot.
Stay tuned for the next post, about 116th street in Fishers.
Part 4: Future expectations
