Pathways Over Pogue’s awarded grant to repair historic Nowland Avenue Bridge
The Near Eastside grassroots group Pathways Over Pogue’s (POP) was awarded a 2021 Community Development Block Grant of up to $600,000 to repair the historic Nowland Avenue Bridge in Spades Park. Added to funds already raised, this should be enough to complete the repair by the end of 2021 or possibly into 2022.
It has been a three-year long, hard-won battle to get to this milestone, involving hundreds of donors and supportors, and a crew of dedicated volunteers including Holy Cross’s Amanda Wade who was there from the start.
In 2018, POP raised enough to design the repair which finished up in May 2020. Doing the repair should close the chapter. However celebration is tempered with caution. Federal funds are notorious for adding red tape and expense that can cause delays and increased costs. So we’re not quite there yet.
Repairing the bridge will also pave the way to finally complete the long-awaited Pogue’s Run Trail. The 5.3-mile trail will cross directly over the bridge into Brookside Park and end at the Pogue’s Run Art and Nature Trail near Emerson and 21st. It will also travel west through Spades Park and end where the Monon and Tenth converge with the Cultural Trail, providing a safe and scenic route to downtown and points north.