City plans $21.2M Cultural Trail expansion over new White River bridge

Correction and clarification: A previous version of this story misstated the timeline for the Henry Street bridge project. Construction is slated to start in November and finish in March of 2026.

The Cultural Trail Inc, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and the city announced Tuesday they will extend the Indianapolis Cultural Trail one mile along South Street and Kentucky Avenue and the yet-to-be built bridge at Henry Street over the White River.

Construction is likely to be complicated. The bridge project will go through the site of the former Greenlawn Cemetery, and officials are preparing for the possibility of finding unmarked graves and human remains during construction.

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The project, which is the second expansion in the Cultural Trail's history, will cost $21.2 million. The trail will run along the Henry Street bridge the city committed to build as its main contribution to the $100 million Elanco Animal Health headquarters at the former GM stamping site.

The Henry Street bridge, which will cost up to $20 million, also will include dual pedestrian and bike corridors, a two-lane road for vehicles and a sidewalk.

"This bridge is, I think, the culmination of both what the neighborhood wanted to see for many years in terms of feeling closer to downtown," deputy mayor for economic development Scarlett Andrews said. "But also, I think, what Elanco and the GM stamping plant site needed to be able to completely transform that site from former industrial vacant site into a corporate headquarters and mixed use community."

The Cultural Trail's last expansion, still under construction through this year, encompassed two miles on parts of Indiana Avenue, 10th Street and South Street.

With the proposed addition of what's been dubbed the White River expansion, the Cultural Trail will be nine miles long.

The Cultural Trail and Henry Street bridge are just part of a slate of developments coming to the area by the White River. Construction on the bridge is slated to start in November with expected completion by March 2026, city officials said.

The Elanco Animal Health headquarters, a project first announced in 2020, includes at least 1,000 jobs. The project includes $170 million in incentives from the city and the state.

Keystone Group is also planning a $1 billion residential, hotel, entertainment and retail complex with a stadium for Indy Eleven on the White River. The mixed-use development, called Eleven Park, is located on the former Diamond Chain manufacturing site, an industrial equipment supplier.

Both the Henry Street bridge project, as well as Keystone's Eleven Park, face archaeological challenges. The developments both go through the east side of the White River through what was once the Greenlawn Cemetery, largely believed to be Indianapolis’ first public cemetery.

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Built in the 1820s and closed by the turn of the century, the cemetery was the final resting place for some of the first settlers in Indianapolis and likely many Black settlers. Diamond Chain Co. purchased the land in 1917.

Through the years, families, grave robbers and private contractors exhumed bodies from Greenlawn. The locations of graves weren't well documented, city officials said that it's difficult to ascertain exactly how many — if any — human remains will be found.

City officials will have archaeologists on the construction site at all times, will stop construction work within 100 feet of any graves and will bring the remains to IUPUI to be "respectfully analyzed," Cassie Reiter, an engineer who is helping the city with the design and construction process, said.

The city also plans to reinter remains in a local cemetery and hold a memorial service, and officials said they also are seeking community input as to the best way to honor the lives of people who were buried at Greenlawn. They will convene an advisory committee to provide feedback on the findings and provide community insight.

Human remains may also be found at the Eleven Park development site. Keystone Group said they are working with a consulting firm and have plans in place to follow the law and respect historic preservation of the Greenlawn Cemetery site.

"Should archaeological remains be found we have archaeological monitoring plan in place and approved and will follow all proper procedures for historic preservation and reinterring," a spokesperson for Keystone Group told IndyStar in an emailed statement.

Judith Thomas, deputy mayor of neighborhood engagement, said she is looking forward to seeing what Indianapolis residents can learn from some of the city's earliest settlers.

"I think it's a great opportunity for the city to tell this story, no matter how uncomfortable it may be in the beginning," she said.

Got a development story? Contact Claire Rafford at 317-617-3402 or [email protected].