The RiverWalk connects the Monon Trail to Broad Ripple Park.
RIVERWALK: FROM DREAM TO REALITY
The RiverWalk trail has been a collective dream for more than 30 years stemming from the belief that beautiful and pedestrian-friendly spaces create healthier, happier, and more equitable communities.
Whenever the public has been given the opportunity to participate in planning processes, they have called for the creation of a missing link to connect multiple neighborhoods, signature parks, and cultural landmarks to each other and to Indianapolis as a whole.
To reflect the community’s aspirations, the Village’s plan of record adopted in 2012, Envision Broad Ripple, called for an “off-street bike and pedestrian trail” to connect Broad Ripple Park with Broad Ripple Village and the Monon Trail.
In 2017, a group of Broad Ripple business leaders convened the Broad Ripple RiverWalk Task Force to continue the community conversation and generate enthusiasm for the project. Working in partnership with the Broad Ripple Village Association, the team submitted a successful proposal to the City of Indianapolis Department of Public Works for a Neighborhood Infrastructure Grant. This innovative funding mechanism provides half of the funding for the $1.1 million project.
Since BRVA was awarded the DPW grant in 2018, volunteer supporters have worked with community members, foundations, and businesses to generate the necessary matching funds that will fully fund the RiverWalk’s construction.
Thanks to the generosity of dozens of individuals and businesses, as of mid-September, BRVA is within $50,000 of achieving the match that will guarantee construction of the RiverWalk Trail in 2022. Please give whatever amount you can to help make this dream real.
But wait, there’s more!
DPW’s grant will pay for construction of the RiverWalk, not for any of the amenities that community members desire. Landscaping, lighting, seating, and scenic overlooks will have to be funded through other means. Once the DPW grant match is reached, we will continue fund-raising for another $200,000 for maintenance and amenities. BRVA has agreed to set up a maintenance endowment to keep the RiverWalk clean, beautiful, and safe to ensure that the trail remains a well-kept community asset for years to come. Please join your neighbors and fellow Broad Ripple advocates and contribute as much as you can. Your Village will thank you for it.
FUNDING
UPDATE: Double Your Donation to the RiverWalk Trail!
As we approach the October 31 deadline to meet DPW’s matching funds requirement, an anonymous donor has stepped up to help. Starting September 22, every dollar donated to the RiverWalk fund will be matched up to $25,000!
Originally a $1.5 million project, of which the BRVA and RiverWalk Task Force are responsible for half, DPW has combined the construction of RiverWalk with the Broad Ripple Avenue redesign, reducing needed funds to approximately $1.1 million for RiverWalk. Of that, we are responsible for raising half of the funds.
OCTOBER 8 STATUS: Thanks to the generosity of local donors, foundations, and businesses, we are now approximately $16,000 from our goal amount to build the trail. These funds are due to DPW by October 31, so we are hoping to close this gap quickly.
Once we have funded the trail’s construction, we will continue our fundraising efforts so that we can install ten large permanent lights along the trail, which will extend its hours of use and increase safety, install benches and other amenities, and create a maintenance fund to ensure that the trail remains a well-kept community asset for years to come.
RIVERWALK TRAIL FEATURES
The RiverWalk trail will be a 12’ wide paved trail suitable for biking and walking. It will have a protected greenspace buffer between the trail and the street. The trail will offer scenic views of the White River and provide a safe way to travel between Broad Ripple Park and the Monon Trail.
After the trail’s initial construction, we will install large permanent lights along the trail, similar to the light fixtures that we installed previously along the canal and the Monon. We will also install benches and other amenities to allow for additional areas to rest and enjoy the trail, the White River, and Broad Ripple Village.
PROJECT TIMELINE
- Late fall 2021 – The RiverWalk project goes out to bid through DPW
- Spring 2022 – Construction is anticipated to begin
- Late fall 2022 or mid-2023 (depending on weather and construction) – Completion of trail construction
- Post-trail construction – Installation of lighting, benches, and other amenities
HOW YOU CAN HELP
To ensure that construction can begin in Spring 2022, we need to raise $65,000 by October 31, with an additional $200,000 goal for lighting, amenities, and a maintenance fund. All donations help us reach our goal, whether that’s $1,000 or $10. You can click here to donate to RiverWalk now.
Please help us share our fundraising need with your networks. If your company is interested in donating or you have fundraising opportunities you would like to share with us, please reach out to info@brva.org.
All donors will be listed on our web site. Donors at $1,000 and above will be recognized will their name on bricks along the RiverWalk. Donors at $5,000 and above will be recognized on a plaque or decorative stone along the trail, to be installed after the initial trail’s construction.
The Broad Ripple Village Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and all donations are tax deductible.
Checks can be mailed to:
Broad Ripple Village Association
Attn: RiverWalk
818 Broad Ripple Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46220
THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS
VISIONARIES (Donations of $100,000 and above)
- Avenue Development
- Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust
- Zinkan Barker ($102,000 credited toward DPW)
INVESTORS ($40,000 and above)
- Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF)
- Keystone Group and Ersal Ozdemir
PATRONS ($20,000 and above)
- Bruce and Julie Buchanan
- Brad and Theresa Warnecke
BENEFACTORS ($5,000 and above)
- Kent and Carolyn Agness Charitable Fund
- Donald C. Arbogast, Jr. and Terri Gill
- Demerly Architects
- Debbie and Chuck Hasbrook
- David and Nonie Vonnegut-Gabovitch
ALLIES ($1000 and Above)
- Apple Press Inc.
- CIBA Foundation
- Mark Demerly
- Barry Foster
- Friends of Broad Ripple Park
- Friends of the White River
- Emily Glanders
- Jim and Cynthia Hunter
- Mark Hursh
- Mark Luers and Kent Springer
- Marigold Clothing
- Maria Mercedes Plant
- Dan Ripley
- Douglas and Diana Scheid
- Kathryn Shorter
- Deborah and Eric Stoll
- Tinder Lock & Security
- Michael Welling
- Barbara Wilder
- Eva Yount
SUPPORTERS
- 801 Realty, LLC
- Laura Rain Alford
- Robert Audler
- Don Baber
- Philip Baer
- Brent Bahler
- Jeff Becher
- Deb Bonte Bell
- Neal Bennett
- Sara Benson
- Luke Boggess
- Thomas Bolyard
- Bridget Bonham
- Richard Boyle
- Samantha Bowyer
- Brick House Dueling Piano Bar
- BRICS Ice Cream
- Broad Ripple Computer Repair, LLC
- Noah Brubaker
- Eric and Carol Buetens
- Caroline Burdette
- Karen Burrow
- Marissa Byers
- Christine Carlson
- Carolina Investments, LLC
- David Chesterfield
- Bradley Coffing
- Geoff Coryell
- Dana Canfield
- John Circenis
- Geoff Coryell
- Adam Cox
- Mary Conners
- Carol Clendening
- Keziah Cannon
- Andrew Coen
- Adam Cox
- Rikki Cronin
- Susan Crum
- Kathleen Drewes
- Kelly Davis
- Karen Desplinter
- Barbara Dill
- Irune del Rio Gabiola
- Vicki Davis
- Lynn Dimond
- Amy Dunigan
- Aletha Dunston
- Kathy Erwin
- Candi Ettinger
- Erin Farrell
- David Feinberg and Maureen Keller
- David Feinberg
- Jessica Friskney
- David Falls
- Taylor Firestine
- Sara Freeman
- Michael Greaney
- Cheuk M Gin
- Drew and Taylor Gaynor
- Richard Gilbert
- Catherine Gillespie
- David Gabovitch
- William Grayson
- Katherine Gray
- G BLOC
- Anne H. Gilbert
- Diana Gottschalk
- Samuel Harrold
- Andrew Hein
- Jessie Herdrich
- Russell Henry
- Jessica Hoeksema
- Mary and Jim Holland
- Beth & Dan Henkel
- Janet Hock
- Kristen Suzanne Hoffman
- Heidi Hosler
- Jennifer Hartman
- Patricia Hemmerle
- Jay Holt
- Chris Holewinski
- Brad Horn
- Cynthia Halsmer
- Rachel Head
- David Humpal
- Cathy Hurt
- Doug Halman
- Matthew Hygema
- Patricia Jacoby
- Ben Jennings
- Rebecca Johnston
- Joseph Judd
- JUMO Music LLC
- Kevin Kastner
- Keystone Self Storage
- Daniel Klemkosky
- Joe King
- Ryan Kincaid
- Erica Kuchinski
- Emily Kysel
- Jordyn Kramer
- Katie Matis
- Holly Kincaid
- Jennifer Kelley
- Vanessa Lanman
- Barbara Levy
- Lynn Levy
- James Lloyd
- Michael Lloyd
- Michelle Leak
- Nicholas Linder
- David Lock
- Timothy Maginn
- Mahrdt Properties, Inc.
- Emily Majkowski
- Kristine Matel
- Alice Mattingly
- Casey McCahill
- Kevin K. McKinney Charitable Fund, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation
- Julie McMillan
- Kaye McSpadden
- Brad Meiser
- MERU, LLC
- Anne Miller
- Chad Miller
- Erica Miller
- Jenny Miller
- Jennifer Moehring
- Christopher Moore
- Marinelle Morgan
- Suzanne Morris
- Kara Morrison
- Aaron Morrow
- Judith Murphy
- Thalia Nicas
- Sally Northcutt
- Kristina Noel
- Mike Nichter
- Devin O’Connell
- Ryan Puckett
- Braden Pampu
- Nancy Petrick
- Skyler Potts
- Jaksa Pejnovic
- Emily Plunkett
- Stephen A. Queisser
- Melinda Rinehart
- Susan Reed
- Kimberly Reeves
- Renaissance Charitable Foundation
- K. Richard Richey
- Sarah Roberts
- Brenda Robison
- Jennifer Roth
- Jenna Rutherford
- John and Susan Ross
- Brenda Rodeheffer
- Sandra Reiberg
- Ronald Reisman
- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
- J Brooke Siwula-Wright
- Karen Seltzer
- Anne Schema
- John Schlechte
- Schuetter Family Foundation
- Lindsay Scott
- Chelsea Smock
- Tracy Snider
- Joanne Smiddie-Brush
- John Schlechte
- Patricia Spalding
- Nora Spitznogle
- Alex Stellema
- Sue and Roland G. Stephenson Family Fund
- Amanda Stezel
- Catherine Stiver
- Bryan Tiebert
- Corinna Thompson
- Laura Thompson
- William Truitt
- Alexander Voerman
- Karen Valiquett
- Tom & Terri Vahey
- Christen Wall
- Benjamin Waters
- Jennifer Weinmann
- Karen Woods
- Diana Wiley
- Evan Williams
- Jordan Williams
- Jill Willowby
- Daisy Winkler
- Lisa Waite
- Jerri Zortman
- Kenneth Zabriskie
The Broad Ripple RiverWalk will provide physical connectivity between Broad Ripple Park, the White River and a variety of cultural landmarks, art institutions and neighborhoods. This will allow more visitors to easily experience and enjoy all of these amenities, while at the same time serving as a catalyst for new and exciting cultural projects and programs for everyone in the Indianapolis community.
As the White River has gotten cleaned up, and become much more of a community asset, there’s a greater emphasis on incorporating the river and river views into our community. Creating the RiverWalk that goes along the river will go a long way in making that happen here in Broad Ripple. We also recognize the economic impact of adding trails to a community, so it will benefit Broad Ripple in that way as well.
This project will create a safe connection between a busy city park, a thriving Cultural District, and one of the state’s most popular bike/ped trails. Parents and grandparents will feel safe traveling between these community spaces with youngsters and pets, and visitors of all ages will enjoy scenic views of Central Indiana’s defining environmental feature, White River.