River Road State Scenic Byway

In 2008, the Indiana Department of Transportation approved the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation’s (WREC) application to designate River Road in Tippecanoe County as a State Scenic Byway. WREC completed the byway designation project identified during the Vision 2020 initiative. The Vision 2020 initiative indicated the need for a vehicular route on the west side of the river being designated as a state scenic byway. This byway’s south terminus occurs at Ross Hills County Park on Division Road, moving north and east becoming south River Road. It then intersects with and continues north onto US 231/State Road 43 ending at the State Road 43-Interstate 65 interchange. WREC’s long-term plans include development of a route that extends a designated scenic byway along the entire Wabash River corridor in Tippecanoe County. If the Wabash River corridor enhancement project extends into adjacent counties, extension of the designated byway into these counties would included as a project recommendation

The State Scenic Byway Program is a component of the National Scenic Byway program which is administered by the Federal Highway Administration’s U.S. Department of Transportation. The goals of the program are congruent to the Wabash River Corridor Enhancement project. The Byway designation provides excellent potential for developing and funding future enhancement projects along the byway and as a part of the overall corridor enhancement project. A prerequisite for being eligible for NSB funding is to have an approved Byway Management Plan. In 2011, WREC received a transportation enhancement Program grant to develop the initial byway management plan. This project will get underway in early 2012 and it is expected to be completed in early 2013.