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Indianapolis officials say the city has hired a firm specializing in archaeology and will submit new plans to the state’s Department of Natural Resources to address concerns about the excavation of a one-acre parcel it plans to use for a new bridge spanning the White River.
Construction of the Henry Street Bridge project has been complicated by the discovery of buried human remains on the site, which is in the vicinity of several 19th century cemeteries east of the White River on downtown’s southwest side. They now are collectively referred to as Greenlawn Cemetery.
The city estimates that 650 or more graves could be unearthed during the construction of the bridge project. Proper excavation and resettlement of the remains is expected to cost upward of $12 million.
On Monday evening, members of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration, including Deputy Mayor Judith Thomas and Brandon Herget—director of the city’s Department of Public Works—shared details of the city’s new approach during a nearly two-hour public information session at Edison School of the Arts.
Herget said the city this week finalized a contract with Canadian engineering firm Stantec, which will oversee the development of the bridge, including the excavation effort on the site. The parcel is adjacent to the former Diamond Chain Manufacturing Co. site at 402 Kentucky Ave.
The hiring of Stantec coincides with the city’s new approach to dealing with the remains. Whereas the city formerly worked on the site and dealt with remains as they were discovered, the new strategy calls for a total excavation of the site and search for remains before the construction process for the eastern portion of the bridge project begins.
The agreement with Stantec, which also was involved in the relocation of the Bethel cemetery for the Indianapolis International Airport stormwater project, “will allow DPW to be proactive in [its] archaeological approach,” Herget said.
“As we’ve continued to meet with members of the community, we realized that we were falling short of their expectations,” Herget said. “By adding Stantec to the team, we believe we are now more closely aligned with the desires of our residents.”
He said the city will be shoring up the specifics of its new plan “over the next several weeks” through conversations with Stantec, neighbors and members of a community advisory group that was assembled in 2023 to determine the best way to handle human remains uncovered on the site through the development process.
The city is required to submit its new plans to DNR’s division of historic preservation and archaeology for approval, because it is changing the scope of its project and the approach it plans to take to excavate the property. Projects involving the redevelopment of cemetery sites—either current or historical—are required to follow certain state laws to properly preserve and catalog human remains, as well as cemetery rules for reinterment.
“Given that our approach is going above and beyond what’s required by state law, I think we’re optimistic that the DNR will agree with that approach,” Herget told IBJ. “But that is something that we now [can do] … since we have a contract in place to be able to do so.”
City officials hope to begin construction on the bridge by the end of this year.
On its own, the bridge is expected to cost $40 million, not including the excavation costs. That price does include executing the Circle City Gateway design that was proposed for the bridge in 2022.
The design includes programmable lighting that encircles the bridge within a set of 80-foot rings, plazas that provide spaces for people to gather and view public art, and distinctive plantings and other horticultural features.
On Monday morning, the city announced that the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. had provided a $15 million grant to help fund the Circle City Gateway design elements. Withe the grant, the city’s cost drops to $25 million, according to the city.
The bridge project is being developed in multiple phases, Herget said. Excavation will occur at the same time as some of the bridge construction, with separate crews working on each element. The archaeological work would be completed before the crews work on the eastern portion of the bridge.
The Henry Street bridge is the product of a development agreement involving Elanco Animal Health Inc., the city of Indianapolis and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. When complete, the bridge will connect the future home of Elanco on the former General Motors stamping plant near White River State Park to the southwest side of downtown Indianapolis.
During the information session Monday, city officials said the Hogsett administration is committed to memorialization for remains uncovered on its development site but noted that it remains unclear what that might look like because the site hasn’t been fully excavated yet.
The city declined to answer a question about discoveries on the Diamond Chain site, which is separately owned by a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Keystone Group. The firm had planed to develop $1.5 billion, soccer-stadium mixed-use campus on the site before the city announced it planned to pursue Major League Soccer using a different downtown location for the stadium.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to an airport terminal project instead of airport stormwater project. That has been fixed. In addition, the original story stated that the $40 million price of the bridge project does not include the cost of the Circle City Gateway design. It does. You can see more corrections here.
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Looking forward to seeing the bridge built with the programmable lights circling the spans. Will be a good addition to the downtown area. Glad that the remains discovered will be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
I’m still a little bit in awe regarding the projects that were permitted over a hundred years ago. It’s especially poignant since the various gravesites were a lot more ‘recent’ when Federal stadium, the Terre Haute Traction Company and Diamond Chain were ok’d. There were no other viable locations? The Indians bid on Federal stadium when the Federal League folded, but lost out to the Interurban company. In retrospect, a fortunate development.
This seems like a grave situation