After six years of planning, work on Bloomington’s bicentennial gateway on the north side of Miller-Showers Park is finally completed.
The horizontal limestone gateway, which was redesigned after public feedback was received in September of last year, will have its lights turned on for the first time Thursday or Friday night.
Tim Street, director of Bloomington’s Parks and Recreation department, said the College and Walnut Street crossover was reopened earlier this week. Duke Energy still has to do the final hookups for the illuminated sign.
“I'm really happy to have that back open, especially given all the construction we've been seeing in town, and hopefully relieve some pressure on some people who were able to use that route again,” he said.
Read more: Monolith: The five-year saga of Bloomington’s polarizing landmark
Funding for the project comes from a series of bicentennial bonds the Bloomington City Council approved in 2018. A total of $1.25 million was earmarked for the project.
Street said the COVID pandemic delayed the planning process of the gateway significantly, and it wasn’t until summer of 2023 that concepts for the original monolith structure were completed and presented to the public.
“It hit people a certain way in September, and was shared with a lot of negativity, of course, and people didn't care for that,” he said. “And through a process there, we were able to sort of backtrack to an earlier concept.”
Although discussions of the now-abandoned monolith happened in open meetings after bonding, Street said they were not well-attended.
