Noblesville City Projects Aim to Improve Mobility, Safety & Quality of Life
Photographer / Matthew Doudt Photography & City of Noblesville
The city of Noblesville has experienced steady growth in recent years, thanks to the addition of jobs in manufacturing, health care and technology; a strong STEM curriculum in schools with the achievement of placing in the top 1% nationally, and highly rated attractions like Ruoff Music Center, Hamilton Town Center, Potter’s Bridge and a historic downtown square.
Perhaps the biggest challenge in response to the city’s expansion has been finding a way to reduce downtown traffic backups, something Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen is pleased to finish in 2025.
“I think the biggest accomplishment that we are incredibly proud of is the completion of the Pleasant Street project (Reimagine Pleasant Street),” Jensen says. “It was a project that we’ve been working on for 44 years — a major infrastructure upgrade that allows the new east-to-west corridor through our community.”
As part of the project, Pleasant Street was widened, a multi-lane roundabout at State Road 32 and Hague was added, and new pedestrian tunnels were installed under State Road 32 and Pleasant Street, allowing safe crossings for the trails at Midland Trace and Hague Road.
“It’s no secret that east-to-west mobility in Hamilton County has been a challenge for some time,” he adds. “Having the White River in downtown Noblesville makes that even more of a challenge, so to be able to open a new east-to-west gateway, that helps reduce our downtown traffic by about 30%.”
An additional project underway is Embrace Downtown Noblesville, launched just last year. Scheduled for phase one construction early this year, the project aims to create a more modern look while still maintaining its quaint charm with locally owned shops and restaurants.
“We’re keeping it historic but also looking at pedestrian safety, on infrastructure upgrades, on quality-of-life investments,” Jensen says. “Our downtown square is designed for vehicle traffic, which made sense over the last several decades, but I think with the investment we’ve made in more livability in downtown, I think it’s important to invest in that pedestrian traffic in downtown — making sure it’s safe for folks to cross travel lanes, making sure there’s more room for outdoor dining and outdoor shopping. We need to go and do some work underground to improve the wastewater piping that is in our downtown.”
Also breaking ground downtown this year is a new public safety building on the former Firestone site at 1700 Division St.
“Our public safety officials have been housed in the same building with the same setup since 1992,” Jensen says. “All while our public population and our officer population has exponentially grown in that amount of time, so we’ve talked about a new facility for them and not just for their office space but for them to train and be a world-class facility for our first responders is really important, and we’ll break ground on that project in 2026.”
Fifty-four percent of this year’s city budget will be designated to public safety, Jensen notes.
“I’m really proud, that number has continued to increase,” he says. “We’re the first administration to hit that 50% level in our Noblesville administration, and it’s just continued to grow going forward.”
The Arena at Innovation Mile opened with a “Boom” in August last year, much to the delight of local basketball enthusiasts. The Arena, a 4,000-capacity multisport venue owned by the city of Noblesville, is home to the new Noblesville Boom, an NBA G League affiliated with the Indiana Pacers.
“To attract a new NBA G League to our community playing in Noblesville is a huge deal, and we’re proud of that $93M asset that we have now in the community,” Jensen says.
USA Gymnastics will also vault into Innovation Mile with a new training and wellness center and office headquarters. Currently housed in downtown Indianapolis, the proposed center — with construction scheduled to begin this year — will host community outreach events and competitions of all disciplines of gymnastics throughout the year, as well as educational workshops and USA Gymnastics National Team camps.
“To land their headquarters and their training facility in Noblesville is a really big deal,” Jensen says.
For more information on Noblesville projects, go to noblesville.in.gov/526/Projects.
