Four Rings to Rule Them All

Mon July 28, 2025
ALL Crane

Construction is under way on Indianapolis' first brand new bridge over the White River in a half-century.

It will reshape the downtown tourism experience and is sure to become a landmark due to its unique design and proximity to Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Convention Center and the near west side neighborhoods.

Central Rent-A-Crane, a member of the ALL Family of Companies, provided a 900-ton all-terrain crane to help set beams for the new Henry Street bridge, which spans the White River and will provide connectivity for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians between the city's west side and downtown.

The pedestrian/bicycle portion will join the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, which connects neighborhoods, cultural districts and entertainment while serving as the downtown hub for central Indiana's vast greenway system. This expansion of the trail is the first time it will cross the White River, which will connect the near west side neighborhoods to the heart of Indianapolis.

What will be most notable to onlookers upon its completion are the four vertical rings that will encircle the bridge deck. Each ring will reach 80 ft. tall and feature programmable LEDs that will illuminate the structure as the sun goes down.

Before any of that can happen, concrete bridge beams for the five spans needed to be picked and set. Central Rent-A-Crane supplied its customer, Beaty Construction, with a Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 to perform a series of tandem picks with a 250-ton Manitowoc MLC250 crawler crane.

"The 1750 was chosen because of its capacity at a 90-foot radius," said Tim Welty, sales representative of Central Rent-A-Crane. "Set-up on the existing causeway was limited by voids created by the 90-plus culvert pipes of varying sizes that permit water flow beneath the causeway."

Setup was further impacted by the pier geometry and protruding rebar from the pier caps, which are needed for later construction of the ornamental rings, the bridge's signature visual element.

Each beam weighed 200,000 lbs. "These are some of the biggest beams that INDOT [Indiana Department of Transportation] utilizes," said Tyler Gluys, project manager of Beaty Construction. "They're 78 inches tall by 61-inches wide bulb tee girders. Everything is just bigger for this project." Viewed head-on, the bulb tee shape resembles a capital letter "T" with a smaller foot at the bottom.

The Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 was configured with 161 ft. of main boom, Y-guy attachment for capacity boost and 317,000 lbs of counterweight.

The accompanying crawler also set up on the causeway. The AT swung its end of each beam as the crawler walked its end to the pier. Each bridge span required six beams, for a total of 30 beams set across the five spans.

It's unusual for a major metro area like Indianapolis to see construction of a brand new bridge. Rehab or replacement of existing structures is much more common. The Henry Street bridge became necessary with construction of a new global headquarters for Elanco, formerly a division of drugmaker Eli Lilly & Company, across the White River from downtown.

"When it's completed, this bridge will transform the downtown foot-traffic experience as well as provide convenient access for the hundreds of Elanco employees," said Gluys. "With the rings illuminated by the LEDs, the bridge will be plainly visible in exterior shots of Lucas Oil Stadium during TV coverage of Colts football games."

Construction on the Henry Street bridge is expected to wrap up in 2026.

For more information, visit www.allcrane.com.