Quick Answer: Moving during the Indy 500 is possible almost anywhere in the metro except the Town of Speedway, where parking bans run from Thursday evening through Sunday night and Georgetown Road and 16th Street close on race day. Pick a weekday, start early, stay off the west side that weekend, and let your crew route around the track.
Moving during the Indy 500 sounds like one bad Sunday. It is really one busy month. May in Indianapolis brings the Mini-Marathon, the Grand Prix, two weeks of practice and qualifying, a downtown parade, and then the largest single-day sporting event in the world on Memorial Day weekend. Hotels fill, the west side clogs, and every rental truck in the city is spoken for. Our crews move people through all of it every year. Here is how to plan a May move so the race happens around you instead of to you.
Why May Is the Hardest Month to Move in Indy
Three things stack up at once. Race month brings hundreds of thousands of visitors, which means traffic on I-465, I-70, and the west-side surface streets runs heavy for weeks, not days. Memorial Day weekend is also one of the busiest moving weekends of the year nationwide, so crews and trucks are in short supply before the race even enters the picture. And college leases at IUPUI, Butler, and the other campuses turn over in the same window. If you have any flexibility on dates, May is the month to use it. Our post on how far in advance to book movers in Indianapolis explains why May bookings need the most lead time of the year.
Race Week Around the Speedway
If your move starts or ends in the Town of Speedway or the neighborhoods just east of the track, race week has real rules. Street parking is restricted on many neighborhood streets from Thursday evening through Sunday night of race weekend, which can take away the spot your truck needs. On race morning, Georgetown Road closes south of 25th Street before dawn and stays closed until about an hour after the checkered flag. Around noon, 16th Street closes between Olin Avenue and the roundabout. Once those roads shut, a moving truck cannot get in or out. For a Speedway address, the only good move dates that week are Monday through Wednesday, and even those need an early start before practice traffic builds.
The West Side Feels It Too
The closures stop at the track, but the traffic does not. Crawfordsville Road, 16th Street, 30th Street, and the I-465 west leg run slow from Thursday through Sunday. Towns like Avon, Brownsburg, and Plainfield sit close enough that a crew coming from the north or east side has to route around the whole area. We plan those routes the day before and add time to the schedule so the truck is never sitting in race traffic with your furniture inside.
Downtown on Parade Saturday
The 500 Festival Parade runs through downtown on the Saturday before the race, and the streets around Monument Circle close for most of the day. Apartment moves inside the Mile Square that Saturday are a bad idea. Friday or the following Tuesday work far better. Our guide to downtown Indianapolis apartment moves covers the building rules that apply the rest of the year.
The Other Two May Events
Race weekend gets the attention, but two earlier dates catch people off guard. The Mini-Marathon runs the first Saturday of May and closes downtown streets and parts of the route out to the Speedway for the morning. The IndyCar Grand Prix on the road course fills the same west-side area the first weekend of the month. Neither one is as disruptive as the 500, but both are worth checking against your move date.
The Best May Dates
The second and third weeks of May, Tuesday through Thursday, are the calmest windows in the month. Practice runs at the track, but the crowds are thin and the roads are open. The week after Memorial Day is also quiet, because the city empties out and the summer rush has not started yet. If you can pick your date, pick one of those.
When Your Lease Forces Race Weekend
Sometimes the possession date is the possession date. If your move has to happen on race weekend, three things make it work. Start as early as the building or neighborhood allows, ideally by 7 a.m. Keep the move away from the west side entirely, or finish the Speedway-area end of it by Wednesday. And hire a crew that knows the closure map. Our local movers in Indianapolis have worked through more race weekends than we can count, and our post on what to expect on moving day covers how the day itself runs.
Pack Early, Because May Runs Short on Time
A May move leaves little room for a packing crunch, since the good crew dates go fast. Our packing services can handle the whole home, the kitchen only, or the single fragile piece the week before your date. Wardrobe boxes for hanging clothes come free with every move.
Book Your May Move Now
Tell us the date and the address, and we will tell you honestly whether it lands in a closure window and what we would do about it. Our hourly rate and flat one-time travel fee stay the same in race month, with no hidden charges. Request a free estimate, or call You Move Me Indianapolis at (317) 951-9566. America’s Favorite Local Movers will bring the coffee, and we will leave the checkered flag to the track.