By Sadie Hunter
Noblesville residents now have access to a picturesque view of the White River along the newly opened Riverwalk trail extension located behind Riverside Cemetery after city leaders opened the southern section of the trail off Maple Avenue Nov. 1.
“Our residents place a high value on trails both for connectivity and for the enjoyment of nature, and this section of the Riverwalk provides both,” Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear stated in a press release. “What people may not realize is how this project also improves our capability to prevent or eliminate sewer overflow – an absolute necessity for our growing city.”
Beneath the trail pavement, 1,100 feet of 60-inch conveyance sewer pipe was buried as part of Noblesville Utilities’ Long Term Control Plan Phase III Division III, which began in 2014. This allowed the city to reduce or eliminate any combined sewer overflow by creating the new route from Maple Avenue to the Noblesville Utilities Treatment Plant. To create the pipeline and trail from the vacant weeds and brush riverbank, crews installed a new permanent retaining wall, which is stabilized with 3-inch threaded rods connected to 20-feet deep I-beams.
“It was a time-consuming project. Our construction crew could only go 60 feet at a time because they had to tie into the retaining wall,” Noblesville Utilities Director Ray Thompson stated in a press release. “But, our employees enjoyed working on the Riverwalk, (and) we get to see firsthand the community come out and appreciate its beauty.”
The city’s long-term control plan Phase IV will begin next year. It and Phase V involve the separation of storm and sanitary sewers on the north and south sides of Old Town. Thompson said future plans call for the trail to extend south from Division Street to the potential Pleasant Street extension.
The trail includes streetlights and three benches for patrons to sit back and view nature and wildlife. It will connect with the existing Riverwalk along the downtown bank of the White River. Hamilton County and Noblesville held a joint groundbreaking for the Riverwalk Phase III, the final portion of the project, Nov. 4 behind the Hamilton County Judicial Center.
