Monon NeighborsIndianapolis · Monon Trail · ST-25-099

Primary sources

Read it yourself

These are the documents this whole dispute turns on. Most are public records that simply haven't been collected in one place before. If you're reporting on this, deciding on it, or just skeptical of a neighborhood group's account, start here rather than with us.

Funding

How the project lost its federal funding

  • Resolution 20-IMPO-007 and Exhibit A Indianapolis Regional Transportation Council Policy Committee · adopted April 15, 2020

    The amendment removing $3,330,000 in programmed funding from the Transportation Improvement Program at the City's request. Exhibit A carries the City's stated justification: "Due to ROW issue we are pulling this from the federal funding program."

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  • Correspondence with the Indianapolis MPO Kristyn Sanchez, Principal Planner II · August 28, 2026

    Confirms the December 2014 award of $2,352,000 in federal funds, the April 2020 withdrawal at the City's request, and that no federal funding was ever obligated to the project.

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  • Annual Lists of Obligated Projects, SFY 2016–2025 Indianapolis MPO · annual reports, state fiscal years 2016–2025

    The federal obligation record for the entire region. The Monon widening appears once, in the 2020 report, at zero dollars.

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Title

Who owns the former railroad corridor

  • Marion County Declaratory Judgment and Exhibit A Clark v. CSX Transportation · Hamilton Superior Court 3 · Cause No. 29D03-9308-CP-404 · filed November 26, 2003

    Determines, parcel by parcel, whether superior title to the former corridor rests with the adjoining landowner or with the railroad. Exhibit A lists every parcel in Marion County by address and tax parcel number.

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  • Howard v. United States, 964 N.E.2d 779 (Ind. 2012) Indiana Supreme Court · certified question from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims

    Holds that use of a former railway corridor as a public recreational trail is not within the scope of an easement acquired to operate a line of railway.

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Design

What the City planned to build

  • Public open house materials, Project ST-25-099 Indianapolis Department of Public Works · updated September 24, 2018

    The City's own typical section for this project: a 10-to-14-foot path with a 2-foot grass shoulder where practical and a 1:3 maximum slope. This is the design document the 66-foot request should be measured against.

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Court records

The condemnation cases

  • Condemnation complaint and docket — property near 80th Street Marion Superior Court 6 · Cause No. 49D06-2606-PL-031579 · filed June 9, 2026

    The first eminent domain case brought against homeowners along this stretch of the corridor. Objections to the complaint were filed August 11, 2026; a change of venue was granted August 13. Search the cause number at mycase.in.gov. We identify the homeowners by cause number rather than by name.

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Coverage

News reporting

We link to the original reporting rather than hosting copies. Some of these sit behind a paywall — that is the publisher's to charge for, and we would rather you read it from them than from us.

Hosted copies of the primary sources are going up as we scan them. Until a download link appears, use the request link on the entry and we will send it the same day — we have every document listed here. Court dockets are searchable now at mycase.in.gov; MPO planning documents are published at indympo.org.