USDOT grants city $15.6M for Ewing Street bridge, road project

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - Mayor Sharon Tucker’s office announced on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the city a BUILD grant that will cover the majority of the project’s cost.

The city says the $15,660,000 grant is expected to cover 90% of the project’s total cost.

About 14,300 vehicles take the Ewing Street Bridge over the St. Marys River each day, a major thoroughfare into downtown Fort Wayne. It is 261.5 feet long, with two bridge structures that are separated by a 1-inch gap.

Without necessary improvements, the city says it would likely need load restrictions or closure in the next 10 years. The city notes that with the growing development along the riverfront, the repairs are particularly urgent.

The project will preserve and reinforce the two existing bridge structures, extend the bridge’s service life by about 50 years, and add multi-use paths for pedestrians and cyclists.

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The project also includes work on about four blocks of Ewing Street, between Jefferson Boulevard and Main Street, used by roughly 5,000 vehicles each day.

Upgrades will be made to match the street to the engineering and aesthetic standards of surrounding downtown arterials, which the city says will benefit drivers, public transit users, bicyclists, and pedestrians.

It will also incorporate in-pavement sensors on the bridge and smart video detection at the Jefferson and Washington intersections.

City Engineer Patrick Zaharako says the security cameras will be used to monitor safety and to document vandalism, noting that they are not Flock cameras.

Construction is set to begin in 2031/31 with a targeted completion date of 2033/34.

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