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CARDINAL GREENWAY
1999-ONGOING
Muncie, IN
The Cardinal Greenway Bridge project preserves a historic river crossing while simultaneously improving flood resilience, trail safety, and accessibility, transforming a critical White River crossing into a functional and symbolic landmark for the community.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Cardinal Greenway Bridge, also known as McCullough Trailhead, is a key White River crossing along the Cardinal Greenway. Located adjacent to the Minnetrista and McKinley neighborhoods, this bridge connects trail users from all over to one of the largest parks and greenspaces in Muncie. This location was previously the convergence of three rail lines that came through Muncie, each railroad having its own bridge to cross the White River. The original bridges were wiped off their footers in the Great Flood of 1913, and the replacement bridges have been standing for over 100 years, even after two of the rail lines stopped operating.
In 1995, Cardinal Greenway, Inc. acquired one of the defunct rail lines to convert into a multi-use recreational trail as part of the national Rails-to-Trails movement. Until recently, Cardinal Greenway relied on the less prominent bridge to cross the river, leaving the unused flanking truss bridge just accessible enough to be a safety concern. After 100 years, the original placement of both bridges and their footer placements in the river began causing increasing concerns for river health, levee flood control capabilities, utility maintenance, and trail safety. By 2020, these concerns drove the Muncie Sanitary District to decide between reinforcing the levee system with these existing constraints or removing/improving the bridges in line with public use, river health, and environmental concern.
Flatland Resources was hired to develop 30% designs for the unused truss bridge to become the primary pedestrian river crossing. Design components included accessible approaches, handrails, upgraded lighting, new glulam decking, structural improvements, and the addition of cultural nodes. Upon completion of the preliminary designs, V3 Engineering completed the engineering for public bidding.
PROJECT PERSONNEL
CARDINAL GREENWAY PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
PHIL
project lead
+project manager
FlatLand Resources was the successful low bidder for the final design and construction. The completed project meets several community needs in one design: it improves flood conveyance, preserves a significant historic structure through adaptive reuse, and creates a more meaningful Greenway crossing. By addressing bridge and levee constraints together, the project gave the White River and Muncie’s flood-protection system more room to function during high water while preserving a visible piece of the city’s industrial history. The result is resilient infrastructure that protects the community and strengthens its connection to the river.
Once FlatLand was awarded the project, they worked to value engineer our project wherever possible throughout the construction of this Muncie iconic bridge keeping the project on budget.
- John Barlow, Retired District Administrated, Muncie Sanitary District
CARDINAL GREENWAY PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
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