As vehicles barrel through the intersection of US-41 and Washington Avenue in Evansville, pedestrians have a new way to cross — the wheel-chair accessible footbridge.
Cameron Shemwell uses the bridge for school and other destinations. On Tuesday he walked his bike up the ramp.
“I use it about mostly three or four times per week,” he said. “It actually is really helpful.”
State and local officials are officially opening the pedestrian bridge on Wednesday. The bridge technically opened in fall of 2024, but the approach sidewalks weren’t complete, limiting avenues to reach the ramp to the footbridge.
This event is decades in the making.
This project has been discussed since the mid 1990s — a footbridge over US-41 to protect the students and anyone else who needs to cross the busy highway.
It didn’t gain traction until 2019, when then-governor Eric Holcomb took a tour of the intersection.
Evansville Vanderburgh School Board member Mike Duckworth spoke at the 2023 groundbreaking for the project.
“This project, I think, will ensure not only students getting here without playing ‘Frogger’ out in the middle of the road and, and stopping in the middle of median and letting 1000s of cars go by," he said. "But it's also going to help the neighborhood."
“I mean, you got churches, you got drugstores, and you got convenience stores that people want to get to. And you have a greenway right over here they want to walk on.”
Convenience stores and the Greenway path are reasons Curtis Sallee uses the footbridge regularly.
“Well, I live right there, so (I use it) quite a bit — I usually ride a bike, but, yeah, it's convenient,” he said. “The whole little turnaround thing is kind of a pain in the butt, but, you know, like the U turn and all that, but it's all right.”
The $7.8 million project started September of 2023 and includes the revamped Reduced Conflict Intersection (RCI).
The Project is led by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDO). Gary Brian with INDOT said this reduces conflicts, by making it a median U-turn instead of a left turn.
“This gives them a chance to turn around, do what they need to do. It has been proven to work throughout the state, especially in this district.”
These are planned in the Lloyd 4U project and are used in Oaktown, Carlisle and Dale.
According to INDOT, these intersections are intended to “greatly reduce or even eliminate a significant number of severe crashes common when drivers must cross busy highways to reach another road.” INDOT said this reduction can be up to 80-percent.
This intersection is also already in effect, though in the span of about 30 minutes, several drivers tried to make regular left turns despite the urging of other motorists to follow the signs and directional arrows and take the signaled U-turn instead.
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