Neighbors, community leaders and business owners are calling for the Indianapolis department of public works to change the way they are approaching a major project.
It wasn’t a typical service at the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church Thursday. Prayers and conversation filled the room on how a local bridge could potentially separate people instead of bringing them together.
“This will be… a devastation for all our community,” church pastor Ronald Covington Sr. told 13News.
The 16th Street Bridge was opened in the late 1940s, and according to DPW officials, has not seen a significant rehabilitation effort since then. The bridge connects the downtown to Speedway and Haughville.
13News visited the bridge Thursday and noticed several areas of dilapidation including a concrete rail post that seemed to be leaning outward, with chunks of concrete already visibly falling off. Underneath, large pieces of the bridge are missing, exposing sections of rebar.
DPW says work is set to begin June 1, and will require the entire bridge to be closed. Officials say the bridge’s condition is classified as “fair”, the second lowest classification for a bridge.
Given the historic bridge must be preserved and maintained in its original form under Indiana law, DPW says they are working to address the significant concerns.
A spokesperson for DPW told 13News that no one involved in the project, including engineers, thinks it would be safe to do a partial opening, adding that doing so under the bridge’s current conditions would endanger drivers and construction workers.
Community leaders aren’t buying it.
“The alternative is to partially keep the street open, that’s the only alternative that we’re going to accept,” Covington said. “Not only is it possible, it can be done.”
At the meeting, some business owners who have previously raised concerns also weighed in, saying it could disrupt business.
District councilor Vop Osili (D-District 8) also works in architecture. He says he’s also asking those questions.
“If it’s a matter of safety, provide the levels of concern,” Osili said. “If it’s a matter of cost be able to provide that as well. But let’s not just say that we can’t do something, let’s try and see what is possible.”
The Indianapolis Board of Public Works is set to meet 1 p.m. next Wednesday, April 8 at the City-County building.
