"Nobody likes to do this," Mayor Scott Willis told residents at his July 16 town hall, according to Current in Westfield. "It's $8 million to put in a tunnel under a road like that. It's not cheap, but it's important."
If you run or ride the Monon through south Westfield, you've lived with that tunnel since March. You know it as a fence line and a detour. The trail has been closed from 156th Street to 169th Street since March 3. Signs send walkers east to 156th Street, north on Oak Ridge Road and back west on 169th Street. The city has started removing the places where the Monon meets fast traffic at street level. The 161st Street crossing goes first and 191st Street follows, and Westfield is paying for the first one out of local funds.
Why 161st Street went first
The old crossing was a flat, at-grade intersection with a HAWK signal, the kind of beacon a trail user activates to stop traffic. Current reported that people sometimes crossed without pressing it.
The numbers behind the decision show why that mattered. WTHR reported that a traffic study counted roughly 14,000 vehicles a day on 161st Street. The same study counted up to 200 pedestrians an hour at weekend peak times. Most of those people were crossing a road that rises over a hill. Trail users told WTHR that the hill limits sightlines and that traffic moves fast. City staff told the station about one documented pedestrian strike at the crossing.
Put up to 200 pedestrians an hour next to 14,000 vehicles a day and a signal only works when everyone uses it. A tunnel takes that question away. Willis called the crossing "a very dangerous interaction between the trail users and the road." He described the Monon as "probably our greatest asset from an infrastructure standpoint."
A tunnel the city paid for itself
WTHR reported that Westfield funded the project locally after it missed out on federal safety grant money. The price depends on which report you read, because the figures come from different points in the project:
| Source | Reported figure | Context |
|---|---|---|
| WTHR, undated report | $5.2 million | Locally funded cost |
| Current in Westfield, March 2025 | $8.8 million | Total project estimate; the same report described a $1.1 million utility reimbursement agreement to relocate a water main |
| Mayor Willis, July 2026 town hall | About $8 million | Stated in his remarks to residents |
The water main is part of why this took so long. A tunnel under a busy road means moving what's already buried there before anyone digs. The project also had a deadline that had nothing to do with traffic. Brush and tree clearing had to be done by April 1 to comply with Indiana bat protections, with inspectors on site to keep the work inside the project limits.
When the trail is expected back
The city's 2026 construction schedule put the start of tunnel work at March 2 and planned the job through the end of the year. It expected possible lane restrictions on 161st Street but no full road closure. In July, Willis said the project was "a little behind schedule, but should be done by late fall."
That late-fall window is close. The city's reopening announcement is the date that counts, so check the City of Westfield news page before you plan a long run through 161st Street. Until it opens, the posted detour along 156th Street, Oak Ridge Road and 169th Street is the way around.
191st Street is next, and the mayor explained why
The tunnel is the first of two grade separations. The second comes with the 191st Street widening between Tomlinson Road and Grand Park Boulevard. That project adds a roundabout at Grand Park and a pedestrian bridge that carries the Monon over 191st Street. The city projects the remaining road and bridge work for spring 2027, and Willis put the bridge's completion in 2027.
His reasons for the bridge, as Current in Westfield reported, point to a problem north Westfield already knows:
"It's probably not our most dangerous interaction with the Monon right now, but it's real close. What makes it just a little bit more (needed) from my perspective, is all the tourists that come into our community that don't understand roundabouts, they don't understand trails."
So 161st Street is the crossing with the heaviest local traffic, and 191st Street sits in the corridor that tournament weekends fill with drivers who don't know the area. Taken together, Westfield is spending on the two spots where the trail and the road cross paths most often. Its trail plan is now about rebuilding the crossings, since the trail itself was built long ago.
The surrounding road work matters for trail users too. Willis said in July that the roundabout at 181st Street and Grand Park Boulevard is complete. Later phases of the 191st Street widening will run west to Spring Mill Road, with an estimated completion in 2028.
Where the reopened stretch takes you
Once the tunnel opens, someone coming up the Monon from the south can ride a continuous trail into downtown Westfield. These are the stops along the way:
- Grand Junction Plaza, 225 S. Union St. The city's downtown park has an amphitheater, a café, a fountain, a playground and a winter ice rink, according to Hamilton County Tourism.
- Sun King, 133 S. Union St. The brick building sits at the northeast corner of Union and Jersey Streets, on the eastern end of the plaza, on ground where Westfield's first firehouse stood. Restaurateur Ali Awad runs both food concepts. Current in Westfield reported in April that Stacked House on the main floor would serve smash burgers, wraps and salads, with shareable plates upstairs at Upper House Social.
- Grindstone on the Monon, 17470 Wheeler Rd. Its official site posts current hours.
Sun King's leadership said the trail was part of the reason they chose this site. CEO Dave Colt told Current that the brewery looks for places with steady foot traffic and events. He pointed to its Carmel location along the Monon at Midtown Plaza as the model for Westfield. Since March, trail traffic coming from the south has had to take the detour to get there.
The first date on the winter calendar
Westfield in Lights is scheduled for Saturday, December 5, 2026, from 3 to 6 p.m. at Grand Junction Plaza. The Hamilton County Tourism listing promises performances, gift vendors, food and drink vendors and carnival games. If the late-fall target holds, it may be the first downtown event of the season that south Westfield residents can reach on the Monon with no detour.
Trail access is one of the first things buyers ask about in Westfield, and how close a home sits to the Monon's new crossings is a useful detail when it's time to sell. If you'd like to talk through how the 161st Street tunnel or the coming 191st Street bridge affects your part of town, Heigl Real Estate Group follows these projects closely. Contact us anytime.
