FRENCH LICK, Ind. (October 2, 2026) – Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (Aim) has announced that the City of Noblesville is the recipient of a 2026 Aim Placemaking Award for its Reimagine Pleasant Street project. The city was recognized during the Annual Awards Luncheon, presented by Baker Tilly, on Wednesday, September 30, at the 2026 Aim Ideas Summit in French Lick. Noblesville earned the award in the greater than 50,000 population category.
For more than four decades, Noblesville sought a solution to relieve congestion through its historic downtown while supporting the city’s growth. Reimagine Pleasant Street, a $125 million infrastructure and placemaking initiative jointly owned by the City of Noblesville and Hamilton County, delivered that solution when it opened to traffic on December 23, 2025. The 2.5-mile east-west corridor connects SR 32 west of downtown to SR 37 on the city’s east side and is projected to reduce downtown traffic on SR 32 by approximately 20%. It includes six roundabouts, three bridges, three pedestrian tunnels, an extension of the Midland Trace Trail, drainage improvements, and streetscape features.
The corridor incorporates public art by Noblesville native Phoebe Davis, whose work features the peony (Indiana’s state flower and a nod to the Indiana Peony Festival) and cardinal imagery, along with history-themed murals by the Wilkinson Brothers depicting railroads, waterways, and historic architecture. The alignment was selected to spare 10 historic homes and minimize impact on the Plum Prairie Historic District, a neighborhood with ties to a Delaware Indian settlement and Noblesville’s working-class African American community. Interpretive signage along the Midland Trace Trail honors Plum Prairie and Reverend Barney Stone, one of the first formerly enslaved people to settle in Noblesville, and rare local “star bricks” were preserved and incorporated into the new corridor.
“It’s exciting when the recipient of the Aim Community Placemaking Award is a community that turns infrastructure into identity,” said Aim CEO Matt Greller. “Reimagine Pleasant Street reflects Noblesville’s determination to see a long-awaited transportation project as more than a road, but as an opportunity to celebrate the city’s history, artists, and neighborhoods. We are proud to present a Community Placemaking Award to the City of Noblesville for the vision and perseverance behind this generational achievement.”
Learn more about the completed project here:
The Placemaking Award recognizes completed projects that demonstrate innovative approaches to addressing municipal challenges. These initiatives should showcase how planning, revitalization, or economic development efforts have improved the physical environment and enhanced the economic and social well-being of the community. Eligible projects must include a completed physical component within the past year. Awards are presented in multiple population categories based on nominations received.
In its 50th year, the Aim Annual Awards program, presented by Baker Tilly Municipal, recognizes communities and individuals in municipal government for excellence and outstanding achievement. A seven-member panel of qualified judges selected this year’s winners from a competitive field of nominees from around the state.
Conference Facts:
2026 Aim Ideas Summit
September 29-October 1, 2026
French Lick Springs Resort | French Lick, Indiana
Attendance: 1,100 (pending final registration count)
Further information: www.aimindiana.org
Since the 1890s, Aim, formerly the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, has been an advocate for Indiana municipalities. Aim is the official voice of municipal government in Indiana, with more than 460 cities and towns as members. Our purpose is to foster, promote and advocate for the success of Hoosier municipalities as laboratories of innovation, hubs of talent and the engines driving our state’s economy.