On December 7, 2023, the Department of Public Works (DPW) held a meeting at the Indianapolis Art Center, 820 E. 67th Street [A4 on map], to give the details of the upcoming replacement of the Westfield Boulevard bridge over the canal. The audience was filled with around 60 business owners and residents who are fed up with the construction in the area that is severely affecting local business and public safety.

This was the third public meeting that the Gazette has covered on the topic recently. The other two:

• Our coverage of the April 2023 meeting
• Our coverage of the August 2022 meeting

Each time, including at the December 7 meeting, the message was "The contractor will close the roadway for 100 days". It is unclear why this message is repeated so often, because during the presentation it was said that the road closure, expected to start in January 2024, is, in reality, contractually required to be open by July 31. This news angered the audience further.

There is no way to capture the tone of this 90 minute meeting, at least by a non-reporter, retired electrical engineer, neighborhood newsletter publisher. I will say that a very compelling series of audience responses to this additional street closure, which is starting December 11 as temporary water mains are installed before the main project gets underway, were emotionally conveyed to DPW and the officials from the City of Indianapolis Mayor's office. The plea was to at least delay the closures until after the holiday shopping season. The City response was that the closure cannot be delayed, even three weeks, due to Federal requirements of waterway drainage and fish spawning seasons. The City did agree to try to figure out some solution to help minimize the effect on local businesses. [It seems like it would help if the street closure we delayed until January, to speed up the canal dredging to take less than 100 days by working longer hours or more days a week.]

Many business owners explained to the City that the past two years of Broad Ripple Avenue closures have been devastating to sales. Business owners have depleted personal savings to pay employees, some businesses losing over $400,000 during the period. The City agreed to take this message back to the Mayor and see what can be done.

The first scheduled part of this project has begun. It is the partial closure of Westfield Boulevard to install temporary water mains to continue the supply of water to Broad Ripple. There is a main under the bridge that will be removed during the replacement.

The bridge replacement is expected to begin in January. That will start a full closure of Westfield Boulevard. The winter timing was selected both because of the fish spawning season and the minimum water demand from the City. As we have reported in our "Everything You Wanted To Know About The Canal, But Were Afraid To Ask" series, around 60% of the water supply for Indianapolis flows down the canal to the treatment plant near downtown. Closing the canal flow during the winter will minimize the impact on the water supply.

DPW agreed to stay in weekly contact with the business owners and the Broad Ripple Village Association during the run of this project to attempt to minimize the impact on the Village.

The information website for the project is: https://www.indy.gov/activity/westfield-boulevard-bridge-replacement