Town of Avon Makes Improvements to Roads, Trails & Parks Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing Photographer / Amy Payne
Through the years, Avon has engaged in numerous infrastructure improvements that have paved the way to improve the quality of life in the community. “That’s what helps with economic development — making the community as attractive as possible,” says Tom Klein, Avon Town Manager. Doing so involves improving mobility and connectivity. One of the big road projects was the $12M Ronald Reagan reconstruction. “The council expedited the widening from US 36 to CR 300 North, which was a cool partnership between the Town of Avon, the county and the Town of Brownsburg,” says
Ryan Cannon, Assistant Town Manager for Avon who notes that a lot of people may not recognize the work that was involved because it coincided with Brownsburg’s piece of Reagan. Had Avon not expedited the project, however, it would have been an hourglass effect with only a single lane through Avon while Plainfield had four lanes and Brownsburg four.
to get [SR 267] relinquished, we built it in three years.”
Another wonderful improvement, both for motorists and pedestrians, was erecting the Avon Avenue bridge over the CSX tracks—a $15M project that was made possible when the state relinquished what was SR 267 to Avon, Brownsburg and the county, which allowed Avon to secure the funding.
This summer the town also finished constructing a roundabout at 150 South and Avon Avenue, 90% of which was federally funded since it was a safety project.
“It had been planned for at least 15 years and never got done,” Klein says. “But once the Town was able to work with INDOT AvonMagazine.com / NOVEMBER 2019 / AVON MAGAZINE / 7
“CSX and US 36 divide our community for pedestrians,” Cannon says. “So, when we built that bridge with a sidewalk, that was a game-changer as it enabled us to connect people from the north and south sides of town.”
“There were a lot of serious accidents when the traffic light was there,” says Cannon, who advocates for roundabouts since it has been proven that they reduce the number of fatal accidents. “They operate better than traffic signals because they are selfregulating.”