IU Health donates $384K for IndyGo upgrades on the city’s east side
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hundreds of thousands of dollars are headed to improvements for IndyGo on the east side of Indianapolis.
The goal is to make sure more people can get to the doctor.
“There’s much more than 80 stops that need assistance. It would take about $40 million to make all of IndyGo’s bus stops ADA accessible, so we are just chipping away at that process,” the executive director of the IndyGo Foundation, Emily Meaux, said.
IndyGo and IU Health are pushing to make sure that all communities have equal access to health care by improving public transportation.
“Health equity is just so important for us at all levels and so making sure that everyone has that opportunity to advance their health and transportation shouldn’t be a barrier to that,” the IU Health Director of Government Affairs, Jennifer Andres, said.
That’s why IU health has donated more than $380,000 to the IndyGo Foundation that will be used for construction.
It will upgrade about 15 IndyGo bus stops to meet standards of the Americans with Disability Act and more.
“Sidewalks may be in disrepair or they may not have adequate covering, so really just making sure that people who are waiting on the bus stops feel safe whenever they’re there,” Andres said.
“A lot of it is sidewalks. Sidewalks and then connecting into the nearest road, but then also looked at equity issues and making sure that the neighborhoods that are riding IndyGo and that where we have the ridership and greatest need are the ones that are getting addressed first,” Meaux said.
Community members close to the bus stop on North Keystone and Millersville road say these changes are needed.
“In this area especially we have accidents frequently and I think they should put something in case. You never know,” the owner of Smart Style Furniture, Esther Jacquez, said.
“I used to watch in the summer that they sit on the floor on the sidewalk waiting for the bus and sometimes it takes longer for them to wait there, so I think they need seats and something like a small shelter for the weather,” Jacquez said.
According to IndyGo, the design portion for the improvement plan will happen next year.
Construction will begin in 2024.