INDIANAPOLIS - New developments are continuing to come alongside the White River.
Earlier this week, city and state leaders came together to celebrate the groundbreaking of the extension of White River State Park and on Wednesday, the city broke ground on the new Henry Street Bridge.
“It will be transformative for this community and our city as a whole,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett.
“This bridge means so much to us,” said Kristin Jones with the Indianapolis City-County Council. “It is much more than a bridge to us, so we are very excited.”
Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony kicked off phase two of the White River Expansion Project. Phase one focused on construction with the infrastructure to support the Elanco campus on the west side of the river while phase two starts on the actual construction of the bridge itself. Later on, the project will move into phase three which is known as the Henry Street connector which includes building the roadway connecting the bridge to Kentucky Avenue.
“This isn’t just about the neighborhood. This isn’t just about the development. This is about a new way to experience and engage with the White River,” said Brandon Herget, the director of Indy DPW.
The $43.6 million bridge will bring the Indianapolis Cultural Trail into the future extension of White River State Park connecting downtown to neighborhoods on the west side.
“I have lived over here for 30 years and just in the time I have lived here, we have longed to have that connectivity,” Jones said.
The new infrastructure is something many people have looked forward to for years but there were still some concerns. The site on the east side of the river once was Greenlawn Cemetery. A few small bone fragments have been found so far, and DPW expects to find more human remains there. That’s why the city is making it a priority to work with the community on safely going forward with the project while preserving the history there
“In the past, people built on top of that space for centuries, literally for centuries and today in 2024 we are doing the right thing,” said Judith Thomas, the Deputy Mayor for Neighborhood Engagement with the city of Indianapolis. “We have archaeologists, genealogists, historians that are coming together to say, ‘We have to do the right thing.’ As we start excavating and start finding out who was here, we are able to tell that story properly and with respect be able to reinter those that were here and also uplift those stories and talk about the rich history of Indianapolis.
There is much more to this project than the construction of the bridge itself. The new bridge will serve as a connection to the upcoming White River Park extension as well as connecting downtown with the future One Health Innovation District.
“The Henry Street Bridge is part of a larger project that is supporting an economic development project on the west side of the White River near downtown,” Herget said.
And when it's all said and done, visitors will see a whole new transformation to this side of the river..
“The fact that it will change the look of Indianapolis with those rings bringing together the theme of the Circle City, where it's all full circle, we all come together, and being able to connect each other and to tell our history and our story, I can’t wait,” Thomas said.
Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2026. To learn more about the project, click here.