Westsiders relieved as Morris Street roadwork nears finish line
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — With hot burgers and ice cold treats, a Dairy Queen should be packed to the gills on a muggy summer day. Lee Kleiner’s Dairy Queen on Morris Street, though, was mostly empty Monday during what should have been the lunch rush.
Kleiner, who purchased the restaurant in March, believes the slow business is directly related to travel restrictions along Morris, an important westside thoroughfare.
The street has been limited to one lane dedicated to westbound-only travel to allow construction crews to complete the West Morris Street Revitalization, a $10 million project that has resurfaced about 2 miles of road and installed new curbs, sidewalks, storm sewers, streetlights and a multi-use path. The Department of Public Works told Mirror Indy the road will open to two-way traffic in August and will be completed in the fall.
The road restrictions have funneled drivers toward Kleiner’s Dairy Queen but have also made it harder for them to make it back home. Because of the restrictions, drivers coming from the east have to take a long detour that triples the distance traveled.
To make matters worse for Kleiner, construction on the Washington Street bridge over Eagle Creek has further limited access.
“We were doing fairly well under the circumstances, and then when that road closed, that really took our legs out from under us,” Kleiner said. “The big commitment is getting home. You have to take a huge detour, so by that time, people are just saying, ‘I’m gonna go someplace else.’”
The project has lasted more than a year longer than initially expected due to weather delays and crews having to fix engineering problems created by past roadwork.
Some motorists have clearly been losing patience. Drivers have been seen ignoring the half mile of signs and barriers west of the Dairy Queen warning that the street is closed to eastbound travel and driving the wrong way across the bridge on Morris Street, causing a gnarl of traffic.
Some drivers going the wrong way turn off to the side to let the westbound cars pass, while others force westbound cars to back up.
“When I come around by Warman (Avenue), someone’s always going the wrong way,” said Shane Centers, who works along West Morris Street. “I live about five minutes away, but I drive all the way around. I think everybody wants to go the wrong way, but I know that if I go the wrong way, I’ll get a ticket.”
Kleiner hopes the construction is done soon, both for his sake and the community’s. He said he’s received a lot of support from the community.
He sees the potential in West Indianapolis and hopes the revitalization isn’t the end of the city’s investment in the area.
The city helped subsidize the construction of the Elanco Animal Health Inc. headquarters being built at the northeast end of West Indianapolis with $135 million in bonds, which has drawn other investment into the neighborhood, like Back 9 Golf and Entertainment.
The revitalization project could encourage other businesses to set up shop on West Morris Street, which was a bustling commercial area until the General Motors stamping plant and other industrial plants began closing in the 1980s.
“Why couldn’t this be a Fountain Square-type area?” Kleiner said. “You have the makings of a nice community. You have shops. It just needs to be invested in.”
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @heyEnriqueSaenz