Joe Glover, vice chancellor for university relations at IUS, discusses plans for the proposed South Monon Grant Line Gateway project. Brooke McAfee | News and Tribune
NEW ALBANY — Indiana University Southeast is seeking funding for a project that will connect with the South Monon Trail and improve the Grant Line Road corridor.
IUS is asking for $7 million in Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative funding for the proposed South Monon Grant Line Gateway.
Joe Glover, vice chancellor for university relations at IUS, presented the READI 2.0 request at a recent meeting of Our Southern Indiana Regional Development Authority.
The planned 62-mile South Monon Trail, also known as the South Monon Freedom Trail, will extend from New Albany to Mitchell. The trail is under development by the City of New Albany and Radius Indiana.
“We have this wonderful investment that’s going on with this trail,” Glover said. “We have this beautiful South Monon Freedom Trail that’s going in behind our campus, and because of that, it really gives us a tremendous opportunity to help make sure that people can get to the trail.”
The project would add a trailhead behind the IUS softball field with restrooms, parking, bike racks, benches, water stations and other amenities. It would also offer access to the existing Bicentennial Trail on campus.
“It’s putting a trailhead in so people can get to the trail and be able to access the trail safely in New Albany, but then also giving a couple different nodes on campus so that students can also get onto the trail safely,” Glover said.
“And then it’s connecting the front of campus so that people across Grant Line Road can get across and get here and vice versa,” he said.
The proposed Gateway project would expand connectivity and improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists traveling across or along Grant Line Road, he said.
Plans include new crosswalks and sidewalks on Grant Line Road and Hausfeldt Lane. It would also involve beautification and landscaping in the corridor, including a new median along Grant Line.
These connections would help students safely get across the busy roadway to access businesses, Glover said.
The South Monon Trail will be the state’s longest recreational trail, offering a significant opportunity for IUS, Glover said.
“We will be the only college campus located on Indiana’s longest recreational trail, so we’re really excited about that,” he said.
Indiana University plans to contribute $1.75 million toward the $8.7 million project. IUS is also exploring other possible funding sources from community partners.
“We do have some other requests out there, and we’re working with the City of New Albany and working with some other individuals who may be able to add some funding to the project as well,” Glover said.
Our Southern Indiana is requesting $75 million in READI funding for projects in Clark, Floyd, Jefferson, Scott and Washington counties.
If the region receives READI funding, the RDA will then issue a formal request for projects to determine the allocation of funding.
If IUS receives the needed funding, the goal is to move quickly to complete the project within two years, Glover said.
IUS is seeking to add educational signage to feature other stops along the trail.
The City of New Albany plans to connect the regional trail to the riverfront, which would provide additional connectivity to other communities.
People could start on the Grant Line Road corridor and take the trail into communities such as Borden, New Pekin, Salem, Orleans and Mitchell. They could also get onto the Ohio River Greenway, providing access to Clarksville and Jeffersonville.
Glover said the planned trailhead behind the IUS softball field would provide a clear address for someone to plug into the GPS.
“Being able to really give that its own address, we really think that will help with tourism and help people be able to find it and get to it in a way that makes them getting on the trail easier,” he said.
The South Monon Trail and the potential Gateway project will be “huge” for the IUS campus in terms of recreation and education, Glover said.
The trail would be a “connection point” for students.
“I think it’s going to be a boosted amenity for the students on campus, but I also think it gives us a tremendous opportunity to turn it into an educational experience,” he said.
Glover expects the project to help with student retention and talent attraction in the region.
“We know that the next generation wants these quality and place improvements that happen in their communities, and that is something that attracts them to stay in the region,” he said.
The Gateway project is also a “tremendous safety opportunity” for the trail, Glover said.
“We do have campus police here all the time,” he said. “We have a centrally-located area, and we have resources that are already on site.”
If there was a bicycle accident on the trail, the campus could be used as a “rendezvous point for public safety.”
“They could come here with an ambulance and they could take one of the ATVs that we have on campus down the trail to get the injured person and bring them back to the ambulance, where maybe the ambulance wouldn’t be able to get all the way down there to a certain remote location [otherwise],” Glover said.
The project would help “reconnect” the Grant Line Road corridor and IUS campus to the rest of the city, according to Glover.
It will also help the South Monon Trail be “utilized to its maximum potential,” he said.
“This state and the community and the region have put a lot of money into building a trail, but it doesn’t do us any good if we can’t get people to it safely,’ Glover said.
IUS Chancellor Debbie Ford told the RDA at its March 22 meeting that the community has the opportunity for “generational transformation” with the Gateway project.
“This catalyst for community and catalyst for connectivity positions IU Southeast and our region to certainly bring on tomorrow,” she said.
Although it is uncertain whether the project will receive READI funding, Glover feels it is a “very competitive project.” “We look forward to going through the process, and I hope that one day we’re at a ribbon-cutting and we can talk back on how this planning process has gone through and how we’re able to really help New Albany and help this region continue to thrive,” he said.
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