Greenways and Parks

The Northwest Area community has tremendous natural and environmental assets. Three Indianapolis waterways flow through the community: the White River, Fall Creek, and the Central Canal. The proposed network of greenways converging in the community will someday provide unparalleled trail connectivity in the city. Indianapolis is considered a national leader in bikeways with the success of both the Cultural and Monon Trails in the last decade, but the Northwest Area has not benefitted from these efforts directly, and residents cannot easily access them.

The 10-mile White River Greenway travels to downtown Indianapolis and winds through Northwest Area’s Riverside Park, one of the city’s largest recreation areas. The greenway is underutilized and is not well connected to the community. The Northwest Area portions of the Fall Creek Greenway and the Central Canal Towpath are in the planning stages.

In addition to the 96-acre Riverside Park, the Northwest Area contains Watkins Park (19 acres) and several small parks. These community open spaces are in need of varying degrees of restoration, re-imagination, and beautification to support the City’s maintenance efforts and increase the potential of these spaces to enhance the community’s quality of life.