Walking in Indianapolis

From 71st St. to the Circle and back — walking Indy

The promise and problems of Indy's 'Open Road'

Last summer, I was sitting in what was my old bedroom, staring out the window, distracted from what I was writing by a man with a briefcase walking down 71st Street. I watched him stop to let cars go by and then continue on his way to the bus stop. Every day, morning and evening, I saw him, as well as teenagers with basketballs, a young Black woman with a Kroger t-shirt, and other young people no doubt also heading to work or school along a road never designed for human beings who might want or need to walk along it. When I last lived here in my teens in the late '70s, only those with a flat tire or people peddling the Lord or poor souls with dementia would you find walking on 71st Street.

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