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INDOT briefs council committee on sidewalk prioritization, scoring projects by safety, equity and transit access
Summary
Marty Sewell, INDOT's transportation planning director, told the council committee INDOT uses four primary criteria — safety, connectivity, equity and access to transit — to score sidewalk project corridors and that a three-year work plan is updated every 2–3 years; staff answered questions on quick-build funding, interagency coordination and staffing.
Marty Sewell, INDOT's transportation planning director, briefed the council committee on how INDOT prioritizes sidewalk projects, saying the agency bases its initial screening on the countywide walk & bike master plan and scores corridors by “safety, connectivity, equity considerations, and then access to transit.”
Sewell told the committee the walk & bike plan, last updated in 2022, established a priority sidewalk network and that INDOT develops a three-year sidewalk work plan using those prioritization scores as a key input. He said the work plan then layers five additional practical factors — project cost and budget, feasibility, severity of critical needs, constructability and delivery timeline — when deciding which projects to advance in any given year.
“The work plan identified its projects expected to begin within the next 3 years and establishes an anticipated schedule,” Sewell said, and added that timing can change because of engineering, environmental reviews, right-of-way acquisition or coordination with other agencies.
Councilmembers pressed staff on how the prioritization accounts for access to schools, parks and libraries. Councilman Brown asked whether those local amenities are considered or if the metric has shifted to focus mainly on transit access. Sewell said access to transit has replaced some earlier factors but that the 2017 plan had explicitly considered schools and parks; he said the agency is open to revisiting which factors are weighted as the plan is updated.
On quick-build projects and smaller “gap-filling” efforts — such as short sidewalk segments or ADA ramps — INDOT staff said those are budgeted and prioritized differently from long, multi-block projects. “They are treated differently. We actually use maintenance dollars... We call them quick builds and where we're filling the gap,” said Brad, an INDOT staff member who identified himself during the meeting, adding that some short gaps can be completed in-house.
Committee members also asked about interagency coordination. Sewell described Nash Diggs, an online coordination tool where agencies submit projects to help identify opportunities to pair sidewalk work with other planned construction. He said that coordination can either accelerate or delay sidewalk projects depending on the external agency's schedule.
On staffing and near-term planning, Sewell said INDOT has increased its planning and design teams and hired a dedicated walking & bike manager to support the program; he told members the department plans a walk & bike update “in the next year or so” and that an interim work plan is being used to guide project delivery until that update is complete.
Why it matters: The prioritization framework determines which neighborhoods get sidewalks and when, affecting pedestrian safety, school access and equitable connections to transit. INDOT said its mix of scoring and practical constraints is intended to balance technical need with deliverability.
Next steps: INDOT staff said they will provide additional materials to committee members through Council Connect, and the department anticipates a formal walk & bike plan update and associated funding requests during the next budget process.
