SPORTS

Traffic tougher inside the Speedway than outside

John Tuohy
john.tuohy@indystar.com

The primary intersection outside Indianapolis Motor Speedway bore a strange new look for many race fans.

But after a few seconds to home in on their coordinates, fans mostly said they liked it.

"I love it. It is a lot easier to get around on foot as well as drive," said Bill Barnes, 47, after the Indianapolis 500.

Barnes was speaking about the $20 million, two-lane roundabout connecting Crawfordsville Road, Main Street and 16th Street.

The roundabout replaced a dizzying series of traffic signals at the crossroads, but city officials were concerned how race-goers would handle the roundabout for the first time.

They had little to worry about, said Indiana State Police Sgt. Jason Miller, who was in charge of roundabout traffic.

"In 10 years working the race, this is the smoothest I've ever seen," Miller said.

It didn't hurt that police cars and troopers on foot lined the roundabout to give directions. Access to 16th Street before the race was limited to drivers with parking placards.

A half-hour before the race, 16th Street was shut down completely to Olin Avenue.

It remained closed for two hours afterward while police let thousands of fans pour out of the Brickyard without worrying about traffic.

It gave the entire front of the track a definitive pedestrian mall feel.

"Before, thousands of people would be squished together waiting for the light to change," Barnes said. "This is more sensible."

With several park benches lining the roundabout, pedestrians used them to rest and people-watch.

"If this is what you get with a roundabout, I'm not complaining," said Phillip White, 66, Noblesville, as he took a seat with wife, Cynthia.

Nicholas Taylor, 21, was one of the drivers who did a double-take to get his bearings when he drove to the roundabout.

"I was just going with the traffic wondering where the big intersection is and all of a sudden I turn and am on Main Street," said Taylor, of Texas, who parked in a lot next to the roundabout. "You don't even notice it, so it must be working."

The other big traffic change is that Georgetown Road was blocked off from 16th Street. Though that's been the case the past couple of years, it is physically inaccessible now.

Blaine Meixner, 56, Pittsburgh, said he was trying to find Georgetown on foot Saturday and walked right past it.

"I didn't recognize where it came in and walked all the way to that billboard," he said, pointing to a sign about two blocks beyond Georgetown.

Georgetown was closed to all traffic south of 25th Street for the race and was largely deserted. Though the vendors worked hard, preparing food for the end of the race, the only traffic was the occasional bicyclist.

Indeed, biking seemed to be popular around the track.

On the Southwestside of the roundabout a ride-and-park lot corralled 300 bikes. That's a steep rise from 64 in the lot's first year five years ago, said Beverly Katterhenry, who was running the lot.

"That first year they asked me to do it, I said it was crazy because no one will bike to a car race," said Katterhenry, a local bike trail advocate. "Now we outgrew that first lot and might need more room."

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at 317 444-6418 and follow on Twitter @john_tuohy