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PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Kitselman Trailhead is a Cardinal Greenway White River Greenway crossing that acts as the eastern gateway into Muncie. Originally envisioned in 1995, the trailhead is located along State Road 32. The location has historically been defined by the departure of heavy industry and river-dependent manufacturing that left behind a degraded and fragmented landscape. Long recognized as an area of significance, trailhead plans and designs had been discussed since the early 1990s but didn’t gain real momentum until the 2010s when Ball State’s Landscape Architecture Department’s Design Week was used to build a design vision.
The design proved challenging due to the low-head dam and industrial contamination concerns that had to be addressed to ensure the welfare of any visitors. Land Collective, in collaboration with Flatland Resources, was asked to work with Ball State students provide a masterplan for a trailhead and crossing design which would safely reimagine the site as a recreational gateway and riverfront destination. Ultimately, the student ideas were translated into a final master plan.
Key project goals included providing a safe and accessible trail crossing, removing barriers to river access and recreation, preserving cultural history, and converting industrial blight into community beauty. The resulting design is anchored by a repurposed bridge from the historic Indiana Bridge Company a third century business located in Muncie, which serves to connect several educational and cultural nodes that will display various forms of signage and art. The project has been implemented in multiple phases. HWC Engineering taking the lead on the construction documentation and construction inspection. The completed project will have successfully converted a long overlooked heavily contaminated industrial corridor into a safe, connected, and educational public landscape.
FlatLand Resources has acted as the Project Directors since 2000 being charged with orchestrating the implementation of a 25-year community effort to transform blighted brownfield properties into a celebrated quality of place greenfield
PROJECT PERSONNEL
PHIL
project lead
+project manager
The trailhead serves as a critical automobile gateway into and out of Muncie. Upon completion, the trailhead will overshadow the fading memory of the 125 acres of factories and industrial pollution.
KITSELMEN TRAIL HEAD AND PARK
Over the last 30 plus years, the people at FlatLand have helped the Ball Brothers Foundation (through some of our grantees) implement complex multi-year projects. In the case of the Kitsleman Trailhead, FlatLand has shepherded an infantile thought of joining two pedestrian trails separated by the White River into reality. To say that this project has been complex is an understatement. The notion of transforming an abandoned concretized heavy industrial armpit in our community into a beautiful green place that people can enjoy is the result of FlatLand’s tireless commitment.
- Jud Fisher, President & Chief Executive Officer Ball Brothers Foundation
GATHERING STEPS
KITSELMEN BRIDGE
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