A 100-foot bridge on the west side that has caused headaches for residents and business owners is set to reopen soon.
According to the Department of Public Works, the $5 million West Washington Street Bridge over Little Eagle Creek, closed since March 2024, will be open to traffic in a matter of weeks.
That means westside commuters can soon skip the 2 1/2-mile detour around the construction site they’ve had to endure for more than a year and a half.
It’s also welcome news for business owners on a strip of West Washington Street on the eastern side of the bridge who said the construction was slowly driving away their customers.
George Krier, manager of Joe’s Auto Sales, said he and other business owners were prepared for the bridge to close for about four months. Construction is now approaching its 20th month, and the 15-year-old business is feeling the economic crunch.
“We have not had to downsize, even though our business is not where it should be,” Krier said. “We’re hoping that changes here pretty soon.”
Krier said the detour drove away traffic, and street signs that read “Road closed to thru traffic” gave potential customers the impression that the businesses were closed.
He put out road signs at the corner of North Tibbs Avenue and West Washington Street and on the business’ marquee signs to let people know they are still there.
“I don’t know how legal our signage is. Who knows? It’s about survival,” Krier said.
Krier also worked to get city officials to intervene by creating a petition to urge the city to speed up the bridge construction. It was available online and at 18 other businesses on the strip. More than 4,000 people have signed it so far.
Why did the bridge take so long to build?
The project was scheduled to be a $2.5 million rehabilitation of the existing bridge that was going to be completed last September.
But, DPW crews found that the bridge was less structurally sound than its engineers initially believed, and construction was expanded until summer 2025.
Later, in January, inspectors found that over 70% of the arch and spandrel walls, which keep the bridge stable, were severely deteriorated and could not be saved.
At that point, instead of trying to fix what was there, DPW decided it needed to rebuild the bridge from scratch.
More potential delays on Washington Street
Although the West Washington Street bridge over Little Eagle Creek is nearing completion, other delays related to the new IndyGo Blue Line could hamper West Washington Street traffic for the next two years.
Krier said he likes the plans, but hopes IndyGo presents a realistic timeline.
“If they can make it easy for people to do business and neighbors to get out and not mess up the flow of traffic too much — that’d be a great thing,” he said.
Right now, plans for the Blue Line involve long construction times and more disruptions.
About a mile east of the bridge, contractors are building storm sewer trunk lines. The street is closed to westbound traffic from Belmont Avenue to North White River Parkway Drive West until March.
Later this year, similar Blue Line construction will impede traffic on West Washington Street from Rockville Road to Belmont Avenue until mid-2028.
Next year, work will begin on West Washington Street between Holt Road and Rockville Road. That is expected to last from mid-2026 until mid-2028.
“The Blue Line might be kind of like a one-two punch, but I’m hoping that second punch isn’t for a while,” Krier said. “Let us catch our breath, get our business going again, and then, yeah, you can do your Blue Line.”
Where can I see planned road closures?
To see closures around the city, check out the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services Road Closure Viewer. You can zoom in to your area and see road closures for special events, projects and excavations, as well as detours.
You can also see a list of current and future DPW projects at its Major Transportation and Infrastructure Projects site.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
