October 2023 Update
Rethink Coalition Holds Workshop and Submits Comments to INDOT's ProPEL Indy Study
HNTB, INDOT's consultant on ProPEL Indy, hosted a hybrid HNTB/INDOT workshop on September 19, 2023, for Rethink Coalition to present our studies and work over the past six years in looking at viable alternatives for the I-65/I- 70 Inner Loop. We then submitted our Comment Letter, supplementing our August 31, 2023 Initial/Preliminary Comments and putting into the record the Workshop Agenda and the documents we submitted and discussed during the Workshop.
Rethink Coalition Submits Observations and Recommendations to INDOT's I-65 SAFE Project
Rethink Coalition submitted to INDOT, the City, and federal transportation authorities a Comprehensive Report for INDOT’s I-65 lane improvements and widening project (SAFE). The Report details our observations and requests for the overpasses and interchanges along the I-65 interstate corridor involved in SAFE based on nine months of multiple neighborhood meetings/listening sessions and technical analysis by our transportation planning consultants, Storrow Kinsella Associates (SKA).
ReConnectRondo Hosts National Reconnecting Communities Summit Launching a National Restorative Movement
Two weeks ago, Rethink Coalition Co-Chair Charlie Richardson attended the Reconnecting Communities Summit hosted by ReConnectRondo in St. Paul, Minnesota. National, state, and local leaders from 20 communities impacted by the federal highway system attended. ReConnectRondo is the only other non-profit lead applicant that, along with Rethink Coalition, received the maximum $2m USDOT Reconnecting Communities Grant. ReConnectRondo hopes the Summit starts a national restorative movement to reconnect our communities.
Richardson is pictured here with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a key speaker at the Summit.
Butler MBA Students Study Equitable Development Opportunities with a Recessed Inner Loop
Rethink Coalition CEO and President Dr. Brenda Freije led Butler University MBA students in a 21⁄2-day intensive practicum focused on equitable development opportunities with Rethink Coalition’s recessed interstate
concept. Students first visited P30 on the far east side of Indianapolis, a recent Indy Chamber Monumental Award recipient, to learn about a thriving, community-led entrepreneurial hub fostering business development and growth opportunities in the area.
Students then toured Volumod, a volumetric modular construction facility founded in 2021 on the Far Eastside of Indianapolis. Volumod builds high- quality, affordable modular homes, provides jobs and skilled training for people living in the area, and hires out of incarceration, investing in people's re-entry.
With these models in mind, students then turned their attention to the I-65/I- 70 Inner Loop and assessed various development ideas, applying the base and expanded criteria for interstate construction developed as part of the Rethink Coalition – Indy Chamber Visionary Study. Students also discussed the importance of practicing people-centered design as modeled by P30 in designing equitable development strategies for the areas around the Inner Loop.
