City of Carmel planning to improve infrastructure as growth continues

CARMEL — The City of Carmel says its population is on track to reach 160,000 people within the next decade. To keep up with the extra residents and extra traffic, officials are sticking with the plan to use roundabouts to keep things flowing.

"On the east and west side, there's still some development taking place," Jeremy Kashman, Director of Engineering for the City of Carmel said. "A lot of people will say there's not a lot of room to grow, but it's still taking place."

Preparing for what's to come, the City of Carmel has already phased in many infrastructure projects to improve traffic flow to meet its population demand.

"If we could take care of the intersection today, then we'll save more money on future roadway expansion," Kashman said.

Converting many of their intersections to roundabouts to allow safer access in and around the city.

"The main thing that we're focusing on right now is fixing all the nodes," Kashman said. "So, placing a roundabout at the intersection of two roadways does a couple of different things, it provides a safer intersection, a more efficient intersection, and long-term it alleviates the possibility of us having to widen roads in the future."

"Roundabouts, they're okay, but we probably have too many already," resident Joe Kertis said.

Kertis said he and his wife moved to Carmel about 30 years ago, just wanting a small-town community. But seeing the developments happening is a bit concerning.

"The things they're doing, I don't understand it. We've talked (for) five or six years about maybe going to Noblesville, but Noblesville doing the same thing. Westfield doing the same thing. Fishers doing the same thing. There's a competition, I think," Kertis said.

Kashman said the city's infrastructure plan has become the blueprint for many big cities across the nation, eliminating as many traffic lights with more than 140 roundabouts and multi-use pathways.

"One thing the mayor likes to say is we're building a city for 50 or 100 years, not two years," Kashman said.

He said the growth is happening fast in Carmel, and they are doing whatever they can to perfect the quality of life for residents looking ahead.