30th Street Bridge could reopen this year. What’s taking so long?

By Enrique Saenz

After more than three years, the end of construction for the historic 30th Street Bridge over the White River is in sight.

According to the Department of Public Works, the bridge could be open to traffic by the end of this year, and the approximately $20 million project is expected to be completed by next summer.

“We are doing everything in our power to get it open to traffic by the end of this year, and trying to get the contractor to find everything that they can to accelerate in order to make that happen,” DPW spokesperson Kyle Bloyd told Mirror Indy.
 

Rebuilding a historic bridge

The 326-foot-long rusticated limestone bridge was originally built between 1905 and 1909. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Indianapolis Park and Boulevard System designed by landscape architect George Kessler in 2003.

The bridge was rehabilitated in 1979, but more than 40 years of wear and tear, combined with limestone-weakening salt infiltration, have worn the bridge down.

Its substructure, the part of the bridge that holds it up, received a “poor” rating from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory, requiring the bridge to receive additional rehabilitation.

The project will widen lanes by a foot and rebuild the bridge. It will use the existing foundation and replace portions of the existing arch with precast concrete arches. Crews will have to reassemble the arch piece by piece using existing limestone.

When completed, the bridge should look exactly the same as it did before the rehabilitation work.

The project was originally planned to be complete by the end of 2024, but various factors prevented that from happening.
 

Birds, bad parts and surprise damage

The first of several major delays happened in 2020, before construction began, when inspectors found evidence of migratory birds called barn swallows nesting on the bridge.

The birds are one of dozens of species protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits the killing, capturing, selling, trading and transport of certain birds without federal approval.

Workers had to wait until after the birds’ nesting season, which typically lasts from May until September, to remove the barn swallow nests.

Construction was also delayed by a state requirement to salvage as much of the original limestone as possible. The blocks were difficult to remove, which slowed progress. Replacement stones were later found and shaped to replace blocks that couldn’t be saved.

That should have sped up construction. But once the limestone was removed, engineers found severe deterioration in the bridge piers, which hold up the bridge, and the abutments, which connect the bridge to the road. Engineers decided the parts would need to be replaced, adding about a year to the project’s timeline.

Additionally, precast concrete arch segments ordered for the project arrived with defects that required repairs and modifications that delayed the project further.

 

 

 

 

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Finishing strong

Since last year, DPW and the Indiana Department of Transportation have instructed the contractor, ICC, to increase its workforce and the amount of equipment deployed, and work on evenings and weekends when that would help speed up construction.

DPW says the extra push should allow the bridge to reopen by year’s end.

“Now, obviously, there’s still a lot of days left in the year, and obviously weather plays a factor into (construction),” Bloyd said. “But the end of the year is what we are targeting, and we would be very happy to have that happen.”

To track updates for the 30th Street Bridge over the White River and other projects, head to the DPW’s Major Transportation and Infrastructure Projects site.

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.