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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 and McCulloch Park in Muncie. This location was previously the convergence of two rail lines that came through Muncie, each having their own bridge to cross the White River. The original bridges were wiped off their footers in the Great Flood of 1913. The replacement bridges have been standing for over 100 years, even after the rail lines stopped operations.
In 1995, Cardinal Greenway, Inc acquired one of the defunct rail lines to convert into a multiuse 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 flanking truss bridge unused but just accessible enough to be a safety concern. Leaving both bridges standing was causing increasing concerns for river health, levee flood control capabilities, utility maintenance, and trail safety which drove the Muncie Sanitary District to make a decision between reinforcing the levee system or removing/improving the bridges.
Flatland Resources was hired to develop 30% designs for the unused bridge. 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.
FlatLand Resources was the successful low bidder which Flatland built. The resulting project met multiple needs of the community in one comprehensive design, improving flood conveyance, preserving a significant historic structure through adaptive reuse, and enhancing the Greenway experience with a more symbolic river crossing. The bridge modifications, translated to significant savings and functional changes to the Muncie flood protection levees.
FlatLand Resources reconstruction of this iconic bridge is tied to a long history of rebuilding nine of the twenty bridges along the Cardinal Greenway corridor.
PROJECT PERSONNEL
PHIL
project lead
+manager
CARDINAL GREENWAY PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
CARDINAL GREENWAY PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
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
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