INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

The Monon Trail courtesy of Indy Greenways.

Current and proposed greenways in Indianapolis courtesy of Indy Greenways.

INDIANAPOLIS - If you build greenway trails, people will come. City planners, however, want to know who, where, and why they will come in order to plan a city and state-wide connected trail system that will best serve the community.

IUPUI students are helping to answer those questions by collecting data along stretches of the Monon Trail.

Six students in the Greenway Workshop class in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) will spend a total of 60 hours collecting data on the Monon Trail. They are monitoring infrared counters nestled in trees along the trail to determine the number of users at random times and to account for any users that are missed when two or more people pass simultaneously. Students are also observing the types of users such as runners, walkers, and cyclists.

"These students are collecting hard data which is really challenging, though crucial to the project," said Ray Irvin, administrator of greenways. "We have to have good indicators of what trail users want. We want to build trails that serve the community and can somewhat reduce our thoroughfare gridlock."

The students' data will also help Indy Greenways manage the trails better and provide important information to present to government officials when seeking funding for further developments, said Greenways Foundation environmental education coordinator Jonathan Gick.

The students will present their results to Indy Greenways in December.

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