Columbus updates community on start of riverfront work

The city of Columbus is giving an update to the community on the status and scope of the downtown riverfront improvement project.

According to city officials, work is starting in the area between the bridges at Second and Third Street over East Fork White River in the work being called the “Our River.. Our Riverfront” project. Mikala Brown, assistant director of the Columbus Redevelopment Department, department explains

Mikala Brown, assistant director of the Columbus Redevelopment Department explains that the project has been scaled back from earlier proposals after bids came in higher than expected.

The project is now focused mainly on addressing safety concerns.

Those concerns include removing the existing low-head dam, providing safe pedestrian and bicyclist connections by finishing the People Trail loop around the city and under the Second Street bridge, providing access for rescue workers and preventing further erosion of the river’s bank.

The project is also meant to tie into other downtown initiatives including the extension of the 1821 Trail, the Downtown 2030 plans, a Second Street thoroughfare project and the revamping of the entrance plaza into the downtown area off of the Robert N. Stewart bridge.

Milestone Contractors began work on the project earlier this month. Through the rest of the year you can expect to see site clearing and preparation, excavation and piling work for the construction for the retaining walls on the People Trail expansion.

The dam is expected to be removed next summer.

Brown said that city officials will be receiving a progress report from Milestone later this week.

You can get more information on the project here: https://www.columbus.in.gov/redevelopment/riverfront-reimagine-project

Reimagined riverfront graphic courtesy of Columbus Redevelopment Commission.