Workers with jackhammers are tearing up Monroe Street, Main Street, and surrounding streets in downtown Mooresville as city officials role out their newest redevelopment project.

The official title for this project is Main in Motion, although the construction is affecting all of downtown and the surrounding areas. The city has many objectives for the project, all intending on improving pedestrian and vehicle travel through downtown, as well as the environment of the downtown landscape. This project contains three primary stages, with additional stages known as “a” stages along the away, including 1a, 2a, and 3a.

The first phase of construction, Phase 1a, will be primarily on Monroe Street. Phase 1 will then transition to Main Street, stretching from the intersections on Monroe and Main to Concord Drive and Main. Stage 2 and 2a will be focused from both sides of the Indiana Street and Main Street Intersection. From North to South, the construction will cover from near the Government Center alleyway and the Citizen’s Bank parking lot, respectively. From East to West, the construction will cover from M&I Bank to the alleyway that the large mural downtown shares, respectively. Phase three continues down Main Street from the mural and ends at Maple Lane. Phase 3a consists of parts of both Maple Lane and Madison Street. Features and improvements will be made to all of these areas during this time of construction.

The Main Street additions that will be added from this project can be seen in this graphic.

Some of the other additions to the surrounding streets such as Monroe, Maple, and Madison will include a pedestrian curb extension, suitable crosswalks, an urban trail that can account for bicycle traffic, as well as a buffer of grass from the street to sidewalk. A full look into the proposed project can also be found here.

The original plan for this project was changed when the Mooresville Redevelopment Commission learned Indiana-American Water Co. planned replacing the water main serving the downtown blocks in the summer. The project planning has been occurring for years, with hopes from the city of reviving the downtown into a more friendly area for all types of travel, not just vehicle.

Community members and local business owners have shown both excitement and concern for construction downtown. Many see it will bring much needed improvements to the Mooresville area, but it will also take time and be considered a nuisance to the people who live near the construction.

Junior Jack Hathaway lives near downtown Mooresville and thinks that the construction will bring improvements, but has seen the impact around his area and how it has affected his everyday life. Hathaway says the noise can be heard during the day and has caused slight traffic delays from his house.

“Everyday I have to take a different route. It will be better when its all gone. There is a lot more traffic, a lot of just people,” Hathaway said.

Junior Adysen Scott also lives near downtown Mooresville. She sees that this construction might actually take away some of downtown’s historic feel.

“I feel like its taking away the historic of it,” Scott said.

The project has started and the members of the community who live around it are already feeling the changes. The businesses downtown are also seeing an extreme decrease in customers. Shelly Slagle, part owner of The Parlor P.S, shared her concerns with the construction and how it is interrupting the business.

“Based on customer feedback and observed traffic patterns, we do believe this decline is directly related to the nearby construction and road closures, which have limited accessibility and visibility for our location. We were not involved in the planning or approval process. Communication was limited to notifications regarding the project scope, timeline, and planned phases after decisions had already been made. Our primary concern is for the sustainability of local businesses during this extended project. With construction expected to last for much of the year, the ongoing disruptions present significant challenges. That said, it has been encouraging to see local business owners come together to collaborate, share ideas, and support one another as we work to navigate this season collectively,” Slagle said.

Businesses plan on remaining open through this phase of construction, hoping to see improvements to the area that they serve. The construction phases will continue for quite sometime, so businesses might change this mindset later in the phases if customer rates continue to slow and their businesses are no longer accessible.

Having multiple schools in line with the redevelopment has also been seen as a impairment to the schools. Students and busses have been taking different routes home. Busses used Monroe Street as a main thoroughfare to State Road 144 and State Road 67, allowing them to get to all different parts of the school district. With the closure of Monroe, busses have had to cut across the town through Washington Street, crossing through the high school traffic in the afternoons. Mooresville Schools police officers have been creating a roadblock for the busses with their patrol cars, allowing for an easier exit for the busses. This closure occurs on Indiana Street, where many student drivers leave the school on. This has made many students start taking Church Street and Carlisle Street as other options as busses have impaired travel on Indiana Street.

Traffic patterns have shifted as well for not only students and busses, but for the general community. With all of the oncoming traffic coming from Plainfield to Monroe Street, this traffic is being diverted to side streets that are not made for large commute levels, such as Monroe or Indiana. This will cease once Monroe Street opens, but then the traffic from Main Street and Indiana Street will be directed to Monroe Street, possibly causing issues there. Over all, the area of this constriction will most likely continue to see traffic issues throughout the community. If someone must go through downtown, a general rule of advice would be to leave earlier to account for these shifts of traffic, especially as construction continues.

Local residents and businesses wait in anticipation for the construction to finish sometime in late 2026 according to the first project plan. Everyone hopes that these changes will provide improvements and not take anything away from the origninal downtown.