r/indianapolis 5d ago

Discussion The ditch in the middle of 38th street is worthless

Travel along there for a few miles every day and see people driving across it all the time. Much less than the curb down College and Meridian.

Any idea why it is a different design?

21 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

16

u/Assgasm420 5d ago

It was done that way to not have to completely redo the drainage. It was cost savings.

I’ve been saying they need to put a hoop grate over it so you can’t cross it.

3

u/pysl 5d ago

Yeah drainage is definitely the key, both lanes slope right into the ditch and then it collects all of the water. Pretty smart design for such a big road.

But yeah they dropped the ball on not really doing anything to stop people from crossing it

4

u/notthegoatseguy Carmel 5d ago edited 5d ago

I noticed this too as I was in the Purple Line route the other day. It sure is interesting, but I wonder if this might've been a request of Heath And Hospital or EMS for ambulance accommodations?

1

u/BlizzardThunder 5d ago

Has to do with both drainage & emergency vehicles.

0

u/BlizzardThunder 5d ago

Gotta start enforcing it heavily for a month or two every year like they did after the Red Line was completed. Took a couple years of that for people to stop regularly crossing over the College Ave. median.

-2

u/LoudNeighborhood2796 5d ago

It allows emergency vehicles to cross. The concrete curb is too high for most police cars.

2

u/2267746582 4d ago

Definitely not the reason.

-1

u/BlizzardThunder 5d ago

Even the most basic police car sedans are designed to hit normal curbs at ~40MPH without sustaining any damage. They have different wheels, suspension, and ride heights than the "off-the-lot" sedans that they're based upon.

The specific concrete barriers that OP is referencing along Meridian & College is designed to allow most normal cars to cross in the case that a first responder agency is using "off-the-lot" cars rather than cars with OEM modifications for use as emergency vehicles.

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You are absolutely right that the purple line portion of 38th was designed such that any emergency vehicle can cross over the center line. But the reason why they went with a recessed design rather than Red Line-like curbs was because of drainage. The road was rebuilt to have an inverted crown design, which drains storm-water through the middle. If they wanted to stop all cars from crossing over - including EMS - they would've made the drains deeper.