INDIANAPOLIS — A broken pedestrian bridge is putting students on the northeast side of Indianapolis in a dangerous situation.
The pedestrian walkway goes over a small creek on Mitthoefer Road, just north of 42nd Street.
It is currently blocked off with cement barricades, which forces students from James and Rosemary Phalen Leadership Academy to walk in the road.
“That’s dangerous. It’s very dangerous,” said Lydell Campbell, who lives nearby.
He said sometimes he sees students using the rusted pedestrian bridge because it feels safer than walking on the road.
It’s something he said he even does himself.
“I’m taking my own risk walking on it, but children shouldn’t walk on it. That can crack any time. This could fall any time,” Campbell said.
13News also learned the damage isn’t new. It happened almost three years ago in the summer of 2021.
According to a post from the Indianapolis Fire Department, a truck flipped over the guardrail and landed on the pedestrian bridge.
Since then, neighbors and the school say nothing has been done to fix it, despite repeated requests.
“We are trying to do our part as a school system to try and make the neighborhood and kids’ lives better, and we get stuck with things like this and don’t really hear back,” said Drew Igel, the operations manager for James and Rosemary Phalen Leadership Academy.
13News also reached out to the city on Thursday.
Indy DPW said engineers identified the bridge for replacement in 2021 prior to the crash, adding it to the five-year capital plan with a replacement targeted for 2026.
In the meantime, the department is working to replace the existing damaged pedestrian bridge with a temporary pedestrian bridge at an earlier date. They anticipate the work to be done this year but couldn’t give 13News an exact date.
The school believes this temporary fix needs to happen now before anyone gets hurt.
“These kids on the far east side are kids like everyone throughout the city, and they are walking to school and don't have a safe way to travel,” Igel said.