Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indianapolis city officials on Thursday announced plans to spend $17.5 million to rehabilitate a 76-year-old bridge over the White River.
Construction crews are expected to begin rehab on the 16th Street Bridge, which connects Haughville to the west side of downtown Indianapolis, by the end of 2024. In the first few months, contractors will work underneath the bridge to patch arch rings. After that, the bridge will be fully closed to traffic beginning in mid-2025 for about two years.
The bridge was built in 1948 and last fully rehabilitated in 2011. Despite being younger than many other arch bridges in Indianapolis, it is considered historically significant due to its unique Art Deco railing and details.
Nearly $5 million of the costs will come from the Federal Fund Exchange Program, which allows local entities to exchange the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization’s annual allocation of federal transportation program funds for state funds to fund regionally significant transportation projects. Local funds will cover the remaining $12.5 million.
To ensure that traffic over the White River isn’t drastically cut off on the west side, officials said the work will take place in phases in coordination with a reconstruction on the nearby 30th Street Bridge.
Brandon Herget, director of the Department of Public Works, told reporters that work will begin this year on the substructure and in the riverbanks of the 16th Street Bridge, and thus, won’t disrupt traffic as construction is ongoing at the 30th Street Bridge.
The 30th Street Bridge rehabilitation began in 2022 and is expected to wrap up by May 2025. That project is projected to cost $17 million. It’s currently behind schedule due to delays in contractors’ sourcing and cutting limestone used to maintain the look of the historic bridge, Herget said.
The two-year closure of the 16th Street Bridge will not begin until work on the 30th Street Bridge is complete. During that closure, the bridge will stay open to pedestrian traffic throughout construction.
Herget said the 16th Street Bridge will look much the same after the construction project because the focus is on restoration and preservation of the structure. One potential change could be an increase or revamp in pedestrian space on the bridge, Herget said. It currently has narrow sidewalks in both directions.
“It’s time now for the refresh that it deserves,” Herget said. “And, most importantly, I think a refresh that provides better pedestrian facilities and provides the same historical significance, cultural significance with the architecture of the façade.
The department aims to do major improvements to about 10 bridges a year,. The 16th Street Bridge is one of 19 planned bridge overhauls for 2024. Indianapolis’ Department of Public Works maintains over 500 bridges and does routine inventories using an analysis process similar, but more complicated than, the methods used to determine road conditions, Herget said.
In addition to the bridge improvements, the city’s planned investment of $363 million this construction season will fund:
• 134,797 linear feet of new and rehabbed sidewalks
• 93,305 linear feet of new trails
• 2,232 new ADA ramps
• 243 lane miles of new or rehabbed streets
• 42,281 linear feet of new storm sewers
• 19 bridge rehabilitation projects
• 21 miles of bike lane created
• 23 lane miles of strip patching.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Should this not wait until the 30th St bridge is re-opened?
From the story: The two-year closure of the 16th Street Bridge will not begin until work on the 30th Street Bridge is complete.
Seems odd that is was “fully rehabbed” just 13 years ago but now must be completely removed and rebuilt.
Rehab prolongs life but does not reflect a completed reconstruction nor a new bridge. It will not be removed. But it will be significantly updated, starting with the superstructure and then the deck.