Transportation Information

First thing: fly to Indianapolis, not directly to Bloomington. If you fly directly to Bloomington, you'll likely find yourself in Minnesota or Illinois.

Getting to Indiana University from the Indianapolis Airport:

  1. You can take the Bloomington Shuttle, which goes straight to/from the Indiana Memorial Union. However, it only runs every two hours.
  2. There is also a limosine service, although it can be more crowded there than on the shuttle.
  3. The usual car rentals. All of the rentals are off-site from the airport. It is imminently viable to stay at the IMU and not have a car; restaurants, the gymnasium, and working room are all in easy walking distance. If you drive, you will park in the lot adjacent to the IMU. It is the purple blob to the right in this picture:

    On the large campus map (warning: 6Mbyte PDF) it is labeled O53P, about three quarters of the way down in my PDF viewer.

Driving directions

If you use MapBlast, it will give you some rather bizarre and arcane directions. A simpler route is:
  1. From the Indy airport terminals, you'll take a sharp 100 degree left curve; get into the far right lane as you go along.
  2. Turn right at the traffic light, and take the exit to 465 south, only about 200 feet from the light.
  3. Follow 465 as it curves leftwards and heads east. Exit at 37 South.
  4. Stay on 37 South for about 45 miles, exit College Avenue.
  5. Continue on College Avenue and it will take you through the bustling metropolis of Bloomington. Turn left on 7-th street.
  6. After a few blocks and many stop signs, you will be on campus; there will be a large field to the right and then a gatehouse in the middle of the road. Turn right at the gatehouse, then follow the horseshoe bend to get to the parking lot entrance.
  7. Park in the lot there; the cost is covered by having a room in the IMU.
A Postscript map, prepared by Peter Shirley long ago, is at http://www.cs.indiana.edu/Contacts/driving/AirportToBloomington.html Total driving time is at most 1 hour 15 minutes. The state policemen have unmarked speed traps on 37, but usually they concentrate on beginning and ending of semesters.

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