Progress always seems to take longer than it should. Unless it’s unwanted progress. That seems to happen in the blink of an eye.
I started working in bike shops in the late 80’s. At that time Indianapolis had no bike lanes, and little in the way of greenways. There was one person (that I knew of) talking about such things, and we thought he was mostly nuts. We were all immortal 20 somethings. There were far fewer people riding, there were significantly fewer cars on the road, and there were no mobile phones. Things like bike infrastructure seemed irrelevant.
Of course now Indianapolis has miles of bike lanes, and multi use greeways. I recently took the opportunity to ride one of the newest parts of our greenway system.
The Fall Creek Greenway has been extended west to the Canal Tow Path-which received it’s own southbound extension the year before. Riding it for the first time was not completely straight forward. The trail takes you from one side of the creek to the other on at least one occasion, and there was a portion where I thought I was on the trail, but I wasn’t quite sure. I suppose some of this should be expected the first time you ride an unfamiliar trail.
Eventually I arrived at the Monon, and headed north. I rode the new 38th street overpass for the first time. That improvement was a long time in coming.
As I’ve grown older I’ve been more hesitant about taking chances with what’s left of my life, so I welcome all of these new additions. Inattentive drivers, and mobile phones aren’t going away, and this infrastructure has gone from an afterthought, to an absolute necessity. Funny how things change.
Be Nice, Work Hard, Ride Bikes, Play Music When You Can.
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