Embrace and Engage: Ohio River Vision and Strategic Plan

A Multi-scaled Scope and Multi-layered Tasks

The Ohio River Vision & Strategic Plan (ORVSP) was commissioned in 2023 as the first regional effort to revitalize the Ohio River frontage in the Evansville Region. The plan reveals a sweeping blueprint to invigorate the Evansville Region with new investment and stronger connections to the Ohio River in the Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties of southwest Indiana.

The plan—backed by state funding from the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) grant program administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC)—envisions an enlivened 50-mile stretch of interconnected riverfront communities anchored by Mount Vernon, Evansville, and Newburgh. It lays out a bold redesign and expansion of the park spaces and plazas along the riverfront, and introduces new uses to support a diverse array of public activities and community events. Proposed investments in downtown infrastructure, mobility networks, and public spaces aim to enhance connectivity between these regions and the riverfront, establishing the riverfront as an integral part of the downtown experience.

The Master Plan Process

The Ohio River Vision and Strategic Plan was developed through a collaborative process that engaged stakeholders and community members in visioning, workshopping concepts, and refining recommendations through various engagement tools like the project website, online and paper surveys, mobile workshops, focus groups, and open houses.

In partnership with its clients, the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership (E-REP), and local municipalities, the planning and design team spent the last year conducting extensive public engagement with the residents of southwest Indiana to fully understand the priorities and hopes they have for their communities. This engagement included two multilingual surveys that garnered over 3,400 responses, over 150 in-person attendees at a July open house and over 9,850 total points of engagement across several outreach methods. This input forms the basis of the plan.

The Vision: Reorienting to the River

Evansville residents have expressed their desire for a stronger connection to the Ohio River ever since the City’s first master plan in 1928. Throughout Evansville’s history, walls, levies, and raised roadbeds built to prevent flooding have deterred development along the river. The Ohio River Vision and Strategic Plan seeks to make that century-old vision a reality. Reflecting the critical importance of quality of place to attract and retain talent and drive economic growth, the Evansville Region will enhance the area’s river ‘Front Porch’ gathering spaces by “Reorienting to the River”.

The River and Its Flooding: Working with Fluctuating Water

The tremendous power of the Ohio River nourishes the vast farmland along the river and connects the region to the globe via shipping. But this power also brings severe natural flooding hazards. In the Evansville Region, the Ohio River can fluctuate 40 feet or more throughout the year, with a low level at around 13 feet and a major flood stage at 52 feet. The Evansville city area is protected from flooding with levee systems, a heavy investment after the catastrophic flood of 1937. Any future efforts to improve and invest in the riverfront must address the realities of flood risk. Understanding the flooding and the fluctuating river is a main driver for the planning and design.

Great Bend Park as the New Heart of the Evansville Region

The plan is regionally centered on Great Bend Park, a reimagined riverfront for Downtown Evansville which will become the new heart of the Evansville Region. The Great Bend Park brings the Ohio River to the City and the City to the Ohio River, making it a celebrated element of the downtown experience.

Great Bend Park recognizes the riverfront park space situated between Downtown Evansville and the Ohio River as a significant opportunity and catalyst, a magnet for Downtown growth and development. This space is poised to bring about a transformative shift in the perspectives and sentiments of the community towards the river. Shifting away from a separation from the river, Great Bend Park emerges as the new iconic destination that seamlessly connects the entire riverfront. Referred to as “The Bend”, the physical iconic pathway serves multiple purposes: functional flood control infrastructure and an experiential path for pedestrians, runners, and cyclists. The Bend intricately weaves through iconic spaces at various levels, catering to everyday activities as well as special occasions, making it a versatile and integral feature of the riverfront. The Bend also serves as fresh branding for Evansville’s riverfront. Situated strategically on the bend of the Ohio River, this new branding encapsulates the essence of the city’s riverfront experience, signifying a distinctive identity for this vibrant local destination.

Great Bend Park bridges Evansville and the Ohio River, showcasing a harmonious urban-natural landscape fusion. This transformation from a stark levee into terraced spaces caters to both quiet retreats and vibrant gatherings. Its design, reflecting the river’s flow, includes meandering paths through shaded, forest-like areas leading to lively plazas designed for community events, such as farmers markets and performances. The park’s varying levels offer distinct river views and experiences, embodying the dynamic interplay between city and river. Great Bend Park invites people to enjoy the relationship between Evansville and the Ohio River through its thoughtful integration of form and function.

Design Process

The community engagement open house activities, online surveys, and focus group meetings gather community input to understand the community’s desire for top riverfront activities and improvement priorities. Two distinct initial design options are presented to the community, seeking input, feedback, and preferences. Key questions are carefully formulated to ensure that the design team comprehensively grasps the aspects of each proposed scheme that resonate positively with the community.

Great Bend Park integrates community preferences from the two initial concepts into one final plan through the following:

• Reconfiguring and calming Riverside Drive to allow a larger park, and more parking.
• Activating the riverfront with multiple destinations.
• Creating an active, flexible, and multi-purpose space for events and gatherings.
• Introducing more greenery and improved connection to the river.
• Adding waterfront attractions like retail, dining, and outdoor recreation.
• Increasing opportunities to approach the river’s edge.

Transforming Riverside Drive

To achieve this level of accessibility, Riverside Drive will be partially adjusted from four lanes to two to reduce dangerous traffic speeds and make pedestrian crossings safer. The reduction in traffic lanes and enhancement of the public realm will enable the expansion of green space from Great Bend Park, stitching together the downtown streetscape with the riverfront park. Within the main five-block interfacing Dress Plaza from Court Street to Walnut Street, curbless street sections are proposed to include space for multimodal paths and parallel parking for visitors to enhance pedestrian safety, as well as naturally extend downtown activities to the waterfront. These infrastructure improvements will extend downtown’s vitality all the way to the banks of the Ohio River.

A Park that Protects

Water levels from low water stages to major flood stages are closely examined to guide design interventions. Additional flood protection systems are innovatively integrated within “The Bend”, in layered walls, architectural structures, and landscape berms with removable panels. Park spaces are also categorized based on varying water levels and flood frequencies, determining maintenance schedules, guidelines for hardscape materials, and strategies for planting.

Implementing the Vision

The design team and the larger team of consultants supplemented this vision with transportation studies, hydrological analysis, phasing timelines, and financial modeling. Potential future grant funding from the State of Indiana’s READI program, along with other funding sources, prepares the region for timely implementation, with the next phase of work on Riverside Drive and Great Bend Park underway as early as this year. The regional cooperation at the heart of this plan, however, is a decades-long goal, and E-REP, IEDC, and the design team are committed to their collaboration to see it through together.