Mission Statement

To improve quality of life on the Near East Side by providing a healthy way for neighbors to:

  • connect with each other
  • get out and exercise in our beautiful parks
  • bike downtown
  • preserve a historic structure
  • spur redevelopment in distressed neighborhoods

By the community doing our part to raise funds for the Nowland Avenue Bridge, we hope to catalyze efforts by the City of Indianapolis, Central Indiana Community Foundation and others to get the bridge repaired, and complete the Pogue’s Run Trail.

About Pathways Over Pogue’s

Pathways Over Pogues (POP) is a grassroots group of Near Eastside neighbors that formed in the summer of 2017 to advocate for the repair of the historic Nowland Avenue Bridge and completion of the Pogue’s Run Trail.

The Nowland Avenue Bridge is located just west of Rural in Spades Park and lies directly along the route of the planned trail.   It has deteriorated to such an extent that it was becoming dangerous to use.  That was a significant impediment to moving forward on the trail. Although part of the original Indianapolis Greenways Master Plan Of 1994, over a quarter century later the trail remains unfinished.

Neighbors were informed that the City was not able to pay for the design to repair the bridge without a clear source to pay for the repair as well.  POP formed to get the process started. It worked with Reconnecting To Our Waterways (ROW), the City Of Indianapolis, Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), Indianapolis Parks Foundation, Friends of Brookside and Spades Park (FOBAS), and private partners to seek ways to fund the repair of the bridge and help get the trail finished.

In 2018, the POP campaign raised over $40,000, which was matched by $30,000 from CICF for a total of $70,000. In addition, ROW contributed another $70,000 through a Cummins Foundation donation. $140,000 was more than enough to pay for the design to repair the Nowland Avenue Bridge which was completed by engineering firm RQAW in May 2020.   RQAW estimated the cost to repair at $524,000.

Additional fundraising brought the total to $146,000 towards the cost to repair the bridge.

In 2021, POP was awarded a $600,000 federal Community Development Block Grant for bridge repair.

Work began in March 2022 and was completed on December 5, 2022 when the last piece – the internal railing was installed.