About the B-Line
The Bloomington B-Line is a 3.1 mile trail through the heart of Bloomington, Indiana. It is a paved 12 foot wide path that takes pedestrians through many places that could be useful to access. While it is a very informative trail by having many plaques giving history, it also promotes social interaction by having so many people within a safe walking path. There are benches every so often along the trail allowing people to have a seat to relax their legs or just enjoy the day. If exercise is your thing, this trail is also perfect for walking or running, in addition to the two exercise stations along the trail.
![](https://i.gyazo.com/f7cf0b683ed03344da7c0d9329a421e8.png)
My Experience
I walked a portion of the trail that I knew would give me the best view of the City. I chose this path as I wanted to see how they managed to blend such a long trail into an urban setting and also managed to blend the existing buildings into the trail. I first entered the trail around 8th street and ended around 1st street. My first walk through I noticed many things such as the artwork and also the beautiful architecture surrounding the path. I also noticed and stopped at all of the plaques and read them which gave me a very neat look into the history of Bloomington. On my way back to my starting point, I discovered many smaller details that I would not have noticed on the surface level walkthrough. One of the things I found particularly interesting on my way back was the amount of different walkways branching off of the main trail leading to surrounding buildings. I noticed this mainly due to how many people I saw using these pathways, and it made me wonder how many people use this trail daily to get from one location to another without having to deal with many crosswalks.
![](https://i.gyazo.com/6d699379d06b24fb498d9f33c7e8111f.png)
Places I Stopped
One of the first places I stopped was the WonderLab museum. This location particularly stuck out to me as there is a small park containing lots of shrubbery and it is a nice place to stop if ever taking the trail. There are a few signs inside this park giving information about different statues, and also benches for people that just want to rest their legs.
Another place that I visited along my walk was the Bloomington Banquet. This is a unique sculpture at the Bloomington Farmers Market. This is one of the coolest sculptures that I have seen just based on its size alone. This piece fits perfectly for a farmers market, and really draws it all together.
The last place that I visited and would like to mention is the bridge that goes across 3rd street. It is one of the coolest foot bridges that I have ever walked over and really gives you an interesting perspective of artwork and engineering coming together to create something beautiful.
People Seen on the B-Line
There are many people that I had seen along the B-Line. Whenever I first arrived I saw four cyclists exiting the trails. The next person that I encountered was presumably a student as she was wearing a backpack, just walking the trail. As I continued along the trail I found a lot of new people, some elderly couples were walking the trail, quite a few runners, people walking their dogs, and just people using it to get from one place to another. This trail really brings out all walks of life from Bloomington and brings them together. While walking the trail I also saw a security patrol car, which I still am not sure if they regularly patrol or just go through every so often, but still thought it was neat to see them there.
Types of Transportation
Along the trail there are many modes of transportation. Lining the trail are bike racks that really blend into the path. Also, at certain intersections you can find electric scooters and bikes, which if you pay for you can take along the path and easily get from one side to another. I saw one person skate boarding along the path which I found interesting as you do not see too many people skate boarding in Bloomington, but for skaters this path would be perfect. The last unique thing that I saw was many cyclists. This trail gives a unique fairly straight path with no vehicle traffic to cycle through, making it one of the safest places in Bloomington to cycle through.
Land Usages
The land is used pretty efficiently around the B-Line. There are quite a few stores and hangout spots located along the trail. One use of space that really stood out to me was the Hyatt located on the trail. There are a set of doors that come out onto the trail and gives direct access, I particularly liked this as it would give people that are just visiting access to the trail and encourage them to walk it, discovering new parts of Bloomington that they might not have otherwise seen. A few places along the trail could definitely be cleaned up as people writing graffiti have written rather distasteful things, but some of the graffiti actually enhances the experience while walking the trail. Overall, I think the combination of many different colored buildings, artwork, residential and commercial buildings, and parks really brings the space together and makes for very few dull moments while walking the trail.
Smart City Strategies to Implement
Smart Waste Management
One thing that I would like to see implemented within the B-Line is a better way of waste disposal. Along my journey I only saw a few trash cans, and the landfill vs recycling sides were hardly legible anymore. There are a new type of trash cans that New York City has started to implement and it seems to be going very well. These “smart” trash cans are clearly labeled and use sensors to detect how full they are and also compact the trash to create more room so that it takes longer to fill up. They send real-time data to local trash companies and whenever they are full, waste haulers will know to come and empty them so that they can return to use. This prevents trash cans from filling up causing peoples trash to just go on the ground. If the B-Line implemented these in a fairly frequent arrangement along the trail, I feel as if it would be a big improvement.
![Internet Of Things Creates More Efficient Trash Collection](https://sustainablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bigbelly-smart-commercial-trash-cans.jpg)
Smart Benches
There is a new type of smart solar benches that would revolutionize the B-Line. These smart benches include environmental sensors, double-sided poster display, USB charging ports, wireless phone charging ports, and Wi-Fi hotspots. If the city wanted to recoup some of the cost of these benches, local companies could pay for advertisements on the digital posters, which would also encourage more local business. The benches are self charging through solar panels and would require no external power source making them fairly easy to implement. These benches would also encourage more students to do work outside of campus and coffee shops as there would be Wi-Fi and charging ports allowing them to do their work while also enjoying the day when it is nice out. I believe that this improvement would encourage more social interaction and also increase the amount of people who go to the B-Line on a daily basis.
![Smart solar-powered bench - Victron Energy](https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/IMG_8408-2-1_118353723-scaled.jpg)
Additional Images
References:
Justin. (2019, November 26). Smart solar-powered bench. Victron Energy. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2019/11/26/smart-solar-powered-bench/
Smart solar bench by engoplanet. engoplanet. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://www.engoplanet.com/smartbench-smart-solar-benches
McIntire-Strasburg, B. J. (2015, February 4). Internet of things creates more efficient trash collection. CleanTechnica. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://cleantechnica.com/2015/02/04/internet-things-approach-cleaner-greener-public-space/
B-Line Trail Map – City of Bloomington, Indiana. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://bloomington.in.gov/sites/default/files/2017-06/b-line-trail-map.pdf