Drivers U-turn as railroad tracks ripped out of Fall Creek Parkway

INDIANAPOLIS — A short section of Fall Creek Parkway is shut down in both directions just off 38th St. by the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The closure is creating major slowdowns and longer commutes for the drivers that use the thoroughfare every day.

If you’re driving East on 38th St. you can still turn left onto Fall Creek Parkway, but you’ll run into orange roadblocks just a short drive down the road.

Car after car made this mistake Thursday and were forced to make a U-turn before the roadblock and adjust their route.

”Because of the Nickel Plate Trail expansion project we, unfortunately, had to close vehicular traffic on Fall Creek Parkway so we could take out those railroad tracks,” said Indianapolis Dept. of Public Works Director Brandon Herget.

The old railroad tracks have been on Fail Creek Parkway for years, remnants of the Nickel Plate Train that used to take passengers to the State Fairgrounds.

”As a kid that grew up in this city, I used to take the nickel plate train down to the State Fairgrounds with my grandparents,” Herget said. “So I remember when those were active train tracks.”

Now, the tracks are just a hazard and annoyance for Indy drivers.

”When you drive over it it’s like, ‘Thunk, thunk,'” said Kailani Shaffer. “You kind of jerk to the left.”

Shaffer made the same mistake so many other drivers already had, driving up to the barricade and wondering why the road was closed. We told her the railroad tracks were being removed.

”Oh good because it’s so bad,” she said.

Shaffer drives Fall Creek Parkway every day and has learned how to best avoid the worst of the train tracks.

”I learned to move over to the left, over to the right,” she said. “I’ve been driving up and down here for a really long time.”

The train tracks removal is a part of the Nickel Plate Trail expansion project, but the trail will not go where those tracks used to be.

”That entire railroad corridor is being taken out as a result of this project,” Herget said. “The trail itself will not follow the exact route that the original train tracks followed.”

The Nickel Plate Trail project is set to be finished in Spring 2025. It will eventually connect the State Fairgrounds, Fall Creek, the Monon Trail, Casleton and Hamilton County.

We ran into David Crandall out biking near the fairgrounds. He’s excited for more trails in Indianapolis.

”I’m impressed with how much Indianapolis has done since COVID, they’ve redid a lot of trails, put new trails in, they’re going fast,” Crandall said.

But the folks on the road are left with longer commutes and frustration for about two more weeks. The project is set to finish at the end of April, meaning both directions of Fall Creek Parkway should be back open in May with new asphalt where those tracks used to be.

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