It was designed to be just as developed as the Downtown canal, but somehow plans never came to fruition. Despite the enormous efforts of the Broad Ripple Village Association and various outside organizations, the grandiose plans to revitalize Broad Ripple's centerpiece, the canal, have never been realized.

Many people, especially those new to Broad Ripple, don't realize that the look and feel of Indianapolis' best known cultural district could have been much different if plans for the canal, parts of which were formulated as early as 1997, had come to fruition. Had these plans been realized, the canal would have been home to several new pedestrian bridges and walkways, trails, an amphitheater, naturalized embankments of shrubs and flowers and a host of other improvements that had the potential to change the face of Broad Ripple.

In the back filing cabinets of the BRVA office lies an impressive document, a 163 page action plan that was developed by a young Indianapolis company called NINebark, Inc.

The pages of this document contain not only comprehensive details of proposed canal development but cost analysis studies, maintenance schedules, funding strategies, an initiative for public art expansion, a summary of necessary utility relocations and connections and a list of organizations who had promised their support.

According to Elaine Zukerman, former Administrative Coordinator for the BRVA, the canal development project was the brain child of former BRVA President Ed Cheikh and former Administrator of Indy Parks Greenway Ray Irwin. Zukerman noted that thousands of man hours, including a series of meetings to include community input, went into making the finalized canal development plans.

So the question must be asked - how did such a well-supported plan with so much effort behind it simply fall to the wayside?

"We had all of these wonderful plans but because the BRVA is a volunteer organization, people just get burnt out or move away," said Sharon Butsch Freeland, BRVA executive director.

Another explanation might be that funding sources that the heads of this project were counting on just never came through.

At first, the BRVA and other involved organizations were very successful in obtaining various state grants in order to complete the first phases of the project. Project coordinators obtained a $25,000 Mayor's Grant in 1997, a $450,000 Lily Endowment Grant in 1999 and $525,000 from the Build Indiana Fund in 2000.

The money, of course, went to good use. The initial $25,000 Mayor's Grant went toward a project scoping document that was completed in 1998. The rest of the funding spent on the first phases of the development, which included the demolition of reinforced concrete parking deck that covered nearly half the canal and the construction of the widely used pedestrian bridge at College Avenue.

To start work on subsequent phases of the canal project, BRVA leaders turned to Sheitland Communications to lead fundraising initiatives. Top on their priority list was to secure funding through Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, a federal program that provides funding to states for any project that is designed to "strengthen the cultural, aesthetic and environmental aspects of a community through the implementation of projects ranging from historic transportation restoration, bike and pedestrian pathways, landscaping and beautification to scenic easement acquisition."

Unfortunately, Sheitland was unsuccessful in obtaining these funds. It seems as though after Broad Ripple was turned down for federal funding, enthusiasm for the project was lost.

"Once the grants were not approved, it was such a letdown," Zukerman commented. "After that, there was a change in the administration, a change in the community."

There were simply no efforts to bring the canal project back and the BRVA began to focus on other issues like village zoning.

Both Elaine Zukerman and Sharon Bustch Freeland have expressed unbridled enthusiasm at the prospect of someone bringing the project back.