Construction is underway on Indianapolis’ first brand new bridge in a half-century. It will reshape the downtown tourism experience and is sure to become a landmark due to its unusual design and proximity to Lucas Oil Stadium.
Central Rent-A-Crane, a member of the ALL Family of Companies, provided a heavy-hitting, 900-ton all-terrain crane to help set beams for the new Henry Street bridge, which spans the White River and will provide connectivity for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians between the city’s west side and downtown.
The pedestrian/bicycle portion will join the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, which connects neighborhoods, cultural districts, and entertainment while serving as the downtown hub for central Indiana’s vast greenway system. This is the first addition to the existing eight miles since the trail’s founding and will include west side attractions for the first time.
What will be most notable to onlookers upon its completion are the four vertical rings that will encircle the bridge deck. Each ring will reach 80 feet tall and be embedded with programmable LED lights.
Before any of that can happen, concrete bridge beams for the five spans needed to be picked and set. Central Rent-A-Crane supplied its customer, Beaty Construction, with a Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1. to perform a series of dual picks with a 250-ton Manitowoc MLC250 crawler crane.
“The 1750 was chosen because of its capacity at a 90-foot radius,” said Tim Welty, sales representative with Central Rent-A-Crane. “Set-up on the existing causeway was limited by vaults created by the 90-plus culverts of varying sizes that permit water flow beneath the causeway.”
Setup was further impacted by pier fittings and rebar needed for later construction of the ornamental rings, the bridge’s signature visual element.
Each beam weighed 200,000 pounds. “These are some of the biggest beams that INDOT [Indiana Department of Transportation] allows,” said Tyler Gluys, project manager for Beaty Construction. “They’re six-foot high by six-foot wide bulb tee girders. Everything is just bigger for this project.” Viewed head-on, the bulb tee shape resembles a capital letter “T” with a smaller foot at the bottom.
The Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 was configured with 161 feet of main boom, Y-guy attachment for capacity boost, and 317,000 pounds of counterweight.
The accompanying crawler also set up on the causeway. The AT swung its end of each beam as the crawler walked its end to the pier. Each bridge span required six beams, for a total of 30 beams set across the five spans.
It’s unusual for a major metro area like Indianapolis to see construction of a brand new bridge. Rehab or replacement of existing structures is much more common. The Henry Street bridge became necessary with construction of a new headquarters for Elanco, formerly a division of drugmaker Eli Lilly & Company.
“When it’s completed, this bridge will transform the downtown foot-traffic experience as well as provide convenient access for the hundreds of Elanco employees,” said Gluys. “With the rings illuminated by the LEDs, the bridge will be plainly visible in exterior shots of Lucas Oil Stadium during TV coverage of Colts football games.”
Construction on the Henry Streer bridge is expected to wrap up next year.
