The date a tour operator plans against
IndyGo puts the Blue Line opening in late 2028. The project page lists design complete in September 2024, groundbreaking in February 2025, construction from the second quarter of 2025, and service from late 2028. An Indianapolis itinerary that uses the line belongs to a 2028 departure or later.
IndyGo's board of directors awarded the build contracts on December 19, 2024. Gradex Inc. took Package A at about $208 million for the roadway elements, covering stormwater and drainage improvements, pavement resurfacing, pedestrian facilities, traffic signal upgrades and sanitary sewer relocations. F.A. Wilhelm Construction Co. took Package B at about $34 million for the stations. R.L. Turner Co. took Package C at about $6 million for the East Side Mobility Hub. The three packages total nearly $250 million, funded in part by a $150 million Small Starts grant from the Federal Transit Administration and nearly $22 million from the federal RAISE program.
The wider budget sits above the construction packages. Indianapolis Business Journal reported $207.8 million in grants and federal funding, a $135 million IndyGo match, $16.5 million from the Indianapolis Department of Public Works and $15 million from Citizens Energy Group.
The airport-to-downtown leg
The line runs 24 miles from the Indianapolis International Airport to the Town of Cumberland by way of downtown, following I-70, Holt Road and Washington Street. The airport is the west terminus. Thirty stations sit at half-mile to one-mile spacing, and every station on the project is exclusive to this route.
Service runs Monday to Friday 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Sunday 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. A bus arrives at each station about every 15 to 20 minutes at peak. The vehicles are 60-foot articulated clean-diesel buses with doors on either side and onboard bicycle storage. Level boarding platforms let a passenger roll a bicycle on and off.
Fares are $2.75 for two hours of unlimited travel and $1.35 at half fare. A day caps at $6.00 full fare or $3.00 half fare, and a week caps at $24.75 or $12.15. A child aged five and under rides free with a fare-paying rider. Fare capping works through the MyKey+ fare system only, and IndyGo is discontinuing the older MyKey card on September 1.
IndyGo publishes no end-to-end running time from the airport into downtown, and the airport station's luggage arrangements sit outside the record. Ask IndyGo for both when the timetable is issued.
The Washington Street corridor
The line follows IndyGo's current Route 8 along Washington Street from Cumberland west to the airport. Riding it end to end crosses the downtown core on Washington Street, where the downtown stations land on the hotel and restaurant blocks.
Named future stations on the corridor include Harding Street Station, Statehouse Station at Washington Street and Capitol Avenue, and Convention Center Station at Maryland Street and Capitol Avenue.
Transit-only lanes and signal priority at busy intersections keep the buses moving when other vehicles are delayed. The project also carries 63 new or upgraded traffic signals, 2.3 miles of new or refreshed crosswalks, 9.7 miles of new or replaced sidewalk, 359 new or upgraded ADA curb ramps and 46.5 lane miles of resurfacing.
The East Side Mobility Hub as a transfer point
The East Side Mobility Hub is the east end of the build. IndyGo describes it as an offsite facility at the east end of the project, providing transfer opportunities between the Blue Line and other local routes.
IndyGo publishes no bay count, no layover provision, no coach holding area and no group staging plan for the hub. A tour operator selling an east-side segment should ask R.L. Turner Co. and IndyGo for the hub layout before it goes into a day sheet.
Phasing as the planning constraint
Construction runs from 2025 to 2028 across 12 construction areas. IndyGo spreads the work across those areas in phases to limit the impact on any one stretch of the corridor. Two areas sit furthest out. Washington Street from Holt Road to Rockville Road is scheduled for late 2026 through 2028, and Washington Street from Arlington Avenue to Shadeland Avenue for late 2027 through mid-2028.
The construction page carries its own status notes, last updated in September 2026. Lane closures are in place on Maryland and Washington streets from West Street to Capitol Avenue for curb ramp, pedestrian and station construction, with a minimum of one lane in each direction and the future Statehouse Station in progress. Washington Street is closed to eastbound traffic from Southeastern to State avenues for storm sewer work and sidewalk and pavement restoration, with westbound access in a single lane. The State Avenue to Emerson Avenue stretch carries the Willard Park storm water detention facility, and pavement restoration runs on the Ritter Avenue to Arlington Avenue stretch from Layman Avenue to Audubon Road on or after September 21, 2026. Two intersections, Cherry Tree Plaza and Mitthoeffer Road, are under construction for pedestrian and traffic signal installation.
IndyGo communicates each closure one to three weeks ahead through its weekly email, and it publishes a tentative list of the work segments east of the East Side Mobility Hub.
What to ask IndyGo for
Ask IndyGo for a month inside 2028, the scheduled running time on the airport run, a group fare or held block on the line, the airport luggage arrangement, a coach staging plan and the downtown pedestrian plan.
Price the transfer off the published fares, and hold the rest for the timetable.