Rating:
1 vote

30th Street-White River Bridge

Marion County, Indiana

Photos 

Photo taken by John Weller in February 2009

Enlarge

BH Photo #133731

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Concrete Melan arch bridge over White River on 30th Street in Indianapolis
Location
Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana
Status
Open to traffic
Future prospects
Slated for demolition and replacement in Fall 2021, with stones from bridge slated to be placed on replacement bridge.
History
Built 1907; rehabilitated 1979
Builders
- Henry W. Klaussman
- W.M. Fife & Son
Design
Closed-spandrel concrete arch, Melan type reinforcing
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 116.1 ft.
Total length: 316.8 ft.
Deck width: 49.9 ft.
Recognition
Listed as a contributing resource to a designated historic district on the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Riverside Park Bridge (1907)
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.80944, -86.19444   (decimal degrees)
39°48'34" N, 86°11'40" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/568953/4406918 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Indianapolis West
Average daily traffic (as of 2014)
32,203
Inventory numbers
INNBI 4900125 (Indiana bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 16609 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of August 2018)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 30.8 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Arch (12,883)
Built 1907 (774)
Built during 1900s (7,948)
Closed-spandrel arch (4,348)
Deck arch (12,099)
Doomed (1,101)
Have street view (30,437)
Henry W. Klaussman (3)
Indiana (5,237)
Indianapolis, Indiana (189)
 Marion County, Indiana (230)
Melan arch (31)
NR-contributing (166)
Open (41,456)
Owned by city (6,284)
Select (531)
Span length 100-125 feet (4,682)
Total length 250-500 feet (5,720)
W.M. Fife & Son (4)
White River (Indiana) (70)

Update Log 

  • March 8, 2022: New photo from Tony Dillon
  • April 11, 2021: Updated by Luke: Builder merge
  • February 10, 2021: Updated by Nathan Holth: This bridge is now doomed.
  • June 24, 2018: New photo from Mike Daffron
  • March 9, 2018: New photo from Dave King
  • December 30, 2012: New photos from J.P.
  • December 20, 2012: Updated by J.P.: added designer
  • February 18, 2009: New photos from John Weller

Sources 

Post a comment here

Comments 

30th Street-White River Bridge
Posted May 30, 2022, by Jim Grey (mobilene [at] gmail [dot] com)

This project will finally start Tues., May 31, 2022.

I'm disappointed to read that this is actually a bridge replacement.

30th Street-White River Bridge
Posted July 14, 2021, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Yeah, I'm not at all happy about it!

30th Street-White River Bridge
Posted July 14, 2021, by Nathan Holth (webmaster [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

It is really a demolition and replacement project with salvage and reuse of non-structural decorative stones. The character-defining feature that gives the bridge its historical significance will be destroyed (nor will it be replicated in modern materials). That is the use of solid steel reinforcing called Melan reinforcing. It is disappointing that Indianapolis is repeatedly allowed to alter "Select" bridges in this manner. I thought the bridge management plan was supposed to preserve historic bridges not build modern copies... and this won't even be a copy as modern rebar will be used.

On a side note, I actually visited this bridge recently. I was shocked at how many sections of railing had been broken, I assume by traffic accidents? This was particularly odd given that this bridge has massive sidewalks that are perhaps twice as wide as even modern day sidewalks. If they were destroyed by accidents, people must drive like maniacs in this area!

It appears this bridge was listed as a contributing structure to a Historic District. It must not have been listed individually as a Melan arch. This appears to be how the city got around the loss of the Melan arch design. Bridges that are listed as contributing to a historic district, rather than individually listed under Criterion C (Engineering) can lose their engineering significance as long as they retain their aesthetic qualities. In truth the bridge should be individually eligible under Criterion C for its Melan arch construction.

Here is an example of another bridge that was replaced in a similar manner: https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=i...

30th Street-White River Bridge
Posted July 14, 2021, by Jim Grey (mobilene [at] gmail [dot] com)

This bridge will be undergoing a rehabilitation starting in autumn of 2021 stretching through fall of 2022. The project will install improved safety features, including a reinforced concrete arch and new bridge railing. Existing limestone will be removed and re-installed or replaced where in poor condition. Other features include new curbs, ADA ramps and sidewalks and new decorative lighting.