College and Walnut Corridor Study

Project Update: Release of Draft Corridor Study Report

Draft Report Release & Preferred Concept Selection

The City of Bloomington, in partnership with transportation planning consultants from Toole Design, has prepared a Draft Corridor Study Report for College Avenue and Walnut Street. Grounded in a multi-year public engagement, crash history analysis, and multimodal traffic modeling, the study recommends restoring both College Avenue and Walnut Street to two-way motor vehicle operations with dedicated turn lanes, preserved parking in the downtown, structured delivery zones, and enhanced pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The review is a long-range planning step and does not authorize construction or commit the City to implementing either of the study’s full corridor concepts. Adoption would establish a planning framework the City can use to pursue future state and federal grant opportunities. 

The origin for this comprehensive study is the 2019 Bloomington Transportation Plan, which called for a north-south corridor study to improve multimodal travel to and through downtown while maintaining safe and efficient automobile travel. Over the past 50 years, Bloomington's population has grown by 44% while vehicular traffic along College and Walnut decreased by 31% creating an opportunity to rebalance pavement space to better serve residents, visitors, local businesses, and transit riders. 

Key Study Highlights & Analysis Findings

Community Engagement

Community input played a central role in evaluating corridor needs and shaping the final recommendations. Over the course of the study, city staff and Toole Design hosted public engagement opportunities to gather feedback from residents, business owners, property managers, commuters, and advocacy groups.

Summary of Engagement Activities

• Stroll and Discuss Events: City staff hosted walking tours allowing community members to stroll key corridor segments and discuss street conditions firsthand. 

   

• Discovery and Design Charrette: A hands-on multiday charrette from June 12-16, 2023 at City Hall included 18 stakeholder studio sessions, a public charrette creating design alternatives, and an open house presenting preliminary cross-section ideas.
  • Link to a recording of the June 13th Public Meeting
    • Presentation from June 13th
  • Link to a recording of the June 15th Public Meeting

    • Presentation from June 15th

       

• Business & Merchant Interviews: The project team conducted 34 meetings with owners of businesses on the corridor to evaluate customer parking needs, loading processes, and storefront delivery logistics.

   

• Steering Committee Guidance: A dedicated project steering committee met across four sessions to provide oversight and review technical analysis at key milestones. 

   

• Public Open Houses & Online Survey: Two public open houses were held in October 2025 at City Hall Council Chambers alongside a citywide online survey to gather structured feedback on the 1-way and 2-way conceptual design options. Online survey responses can be found here: https://bton.in/CWCSPF

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• Q: Why is the City recommending restoring two-way traffic on College and Walnut?
  • A: Restoring two-way traffic provides the strongest benefits for lowering vehicle speeds, improving pedestrian safety, and creating intuitive travel patterns for residents and visitors. Two-way streets also eliminate visual blind spots (eclipsed frontage) for storefronts, doubling driving visual exposure and supporting commercial vitality across the entire corridor.  
• Q: Will restoring two-way traffic cause severe gridlock?
  • A: No. Detailed Synchro traffic modeling demonstrates that all of the corridor's signalized intersections will continue operating smoothly at an acceptable Level of Service (LOS A through LOS C) during peak morning and evening travel periods. Because daily vehicle trips on College and Walnut have declined 31% since the 1970s, a reduction in travel lanes in each direction will comfortably accommodate current traffic demand. 
• Q: How does the two-way concept impact on-street parking? 
  • A: On-street parking is fully preserved in the core commercial district. Between 3rd Street and 7th Street, metered parking spaces increase slightly from 142 existing spaces to 144 proposed spaces. This preservation of parking is in conjunction with the addition of loading zones. Across the full 4.2 miles of the corridor, 252 of the 404 metered spaces will be maintained. 
• Q: How will delivery trucks and loading be accommodated?
  • A: The two-way concept replaces the unstructured in-lane double parking with dedicated curbside loading and unloading bays. City staff will work directly with businesses on each block to establish delivery zones that work for their existing operations. 
• Q: How will the project be implemented and funded?

  • A: The project can be implemented in phases, installing safety improvements and making incremental streetscape improvements as adjacent properties redevelop. Having a completed Corridor Study positions Bloomington to compete for major federal USDOT grants, following successful models like Kalamazoo, MI, which secured over $37 million in grant funding for a similar two-way conversion. 

     

Project Documents

Use the links below to download the Draft Corridor Study Report, conceptual designs, multimodal analysis, and public meeting presentations. 

Public Process & Next Steps

With the Draft Corridor Study Report completed, the recommended concept will be reviewed for incorporation into the Bloomington Transportation Plan. Members of the public are invited to attend upcoming public plan commission and council meetings to learn more and share their thoughts and comments. 

Upcoming Public Meetings

• Transportation Commission Special Hearing: November 16, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. - City Hall Council Chambers
• Plan Commission Meeting: TBD
• Common Council Meeting: TBD

Project Contact Information

For questions or additional information regarding the College and Walnut Corridor Study, please contact:

Ryan Robling, Planning Services Manager. Email: [email protected].

Project Update: Design Alternatives Now Available

We have completed the first phase of the College and Walnut Corridor Study. Using public feedback, crash data, multimodal analysis, and community goals, staff and the consultants from Toole Design have developed two conceptual design alternatives for the corridor. These concepts are now available for public review and comment.

The College and Walnut Corridor Study examines opportunities to improve safety, comfort, and access for everyone who uses these pivotal north-south streets. Each alternative features infrastructure improvements to help achieve our community’s goals. 

You can view and download each design alternative below. Please note that these are large files and may take time to download or open on some devices.

• Alternative 1: One-Way Configuration
  • This alternative maintains the current one-way traffic pattern while adding a new protected urban trail along both streets, improved pedestrian crossings, and intersection and midblock safety improvements. It also adds opportunities for environmental, streetscape, and accessibility improvements.
• Alternative 2: Two-Way Configuration

  • This alternative converts both streets to two-way traffic, introduces a center turn lane in key segments, and includes intersection and signal upgrades to manage flow and improve safety for vulnerable roadway users. A new urban trail would run alongside Walnut St., connecting neighborhoods and downtown. 

     

Project Update: Corridor Study Announced

Purpose: The need for a corridor study was identified in the 2019 Transportation Plan. The Corridor Study focuses on busy streets where there is a lot of automobile traffic, but where safety and comfort improvements are needed for pedestrians, bicyclists, scooter users, transit users, and drivers. College Avenue and Walnut Street are one-way couplets that are currently designed to carry high volumes of traffic at higher speed. A detailed corridor study will identify how best to support the Comprehensive Plan Objectives to “Nurture Our Vibrant City Center” and “Provide Multimodal Transportation Options,” through the design of our most prominent north/south streets. The goal should be to determine how best to:

1. Provide pedestrians with safe passage and safe access along and across the length of the corridors;
2. Provide bicyclists with safe, protected bicycle paths throughout the length of the corridors;
3. Provide buses and other forms of mass transit with safe and efficient ways to travel along the corridors;
4. Accommodate potential new and emerging forms of transportation that further the goals of the Comprehensive Plan;
5. Facilitate safe and efficient automobile traffic to the maximum extent possible in light of the aforementioned goals; and
6. Enhance the vitality of Downtown Bloomington’s businesses and institutions.

The City of Bloomington’s Planning and Transportation Department is launching a Corridor Study of College Avenue and Walnut Street. As our central north/south transportation corridors, College and Walnut serve as gateways to our community as well as the front door for hundreds of local businesses and thousands of residents. However, we are aware that these two streets are not meeting the needs of all of our residents. For example, the sidewalks, ramps, and crosswalks along the corridor do not all meet current accessibility standards; many of the bus stops are lacking shelters; and each year, there are several hundred motor vehicle crashes along the length of the corridors.

The Corridor Study is an opportunity to examine College Avenue and Walnut Street from the State Road 45/46 Bypass to Allen Street. The study will look at what’s working well, where challenges exist, and where improvements can be made. Using public input, research, analysis, and community goals, the Corridor Study will develop several conceptual designs for the streets. 

Study boundaries: The College Avenue and Walnut Street Corridor Study will examine the two streets from the 45/46 Bypass on the north end, to Allen Street on the southern end.  

History of How College and Walnut Became One-Way Streets: 

In 1956, the State Highway Department converted College and Walnut into paired one-way streets. The decision was met with some local opposition at the time and marked a significant shift in how people traveled through and experienced downtown and all of Bloomington. You can read a short summary of that history here: https://bton.in/HCW1W