A historic north Wichita bridge is in need of repairs. Here’s what the city plans

An iconic bridge spanning the Little Arkansas River on 13th Street could soon be under construction.

The 92-year-old Minisa Bridge will undergo $1 million in repairs and aesthetic rehabilitation after the Wichita City Council unanimously approved the proposal at Tuesday evening’s meeting.

A 2019 bridge inspection identified depressions in the brick driving surface due to sand migration brought on by stormwater erosion, a staff report states. Inspectors also identified deterioration in the bridge’s sidewalk, railings and columns, and light fixtures in need of repairs.

“The sand loss will be fixed by pulling up the brick, resetting or replacing the filter fabric and reinstalling the sand bedding and brick,” the report states.

“The bridge sidewalk, railings, columns, and lighting will be rehabilitated as necessary, and the art components attached to the walkway will be restored with the repairs using the same or similar methods that were used when the bridge was rehabilitated 15 years ago.”

Constructed in 1932, the 250-foot Minisa Bridge was designed by Glen H. Thomas, the architect of North High School. The bridge features high-relief Carthalite sculptures of Native American men and bison in the same style as the terracotta sculptures on the school. Minisa means “red water at sunset” in the Zuni language.

The bridge is already listed on the Wichita Register of Historic Places, but Susie Cunningham, president of the Little Arkansas Community Coalition, is working on an application to get it added to the national and state registers after receiving confirmation of its eligibility from the State Historic Preservation Office.

Cunningham said the bridge has been in need of structural repairs for several years. It last received significant improvements in 2008, when its parapets were stabilized and its decaying substructure was replaced with a new one.

“The foundation or the abutments on the southwest corner, over by the bike paths, started to fail and I reported that in 2019,” Cunningham said.

“I went before City Council and I went before the [district advisory board] and I said, ‘That soil is washing away from underneath the bridge foundation, and it’s caused a crack. I showed them pictures, and it went all the way up and through the front side and cracked that Indian and popped his nose off.”

In 2022, after the Little Arkansas Community Coalition posted a video detailing maintenance needs, the city sent out crews to clean up brush and scrub on both sides of the bridge and to remove massive piles of logs and branches that the river had washed up at the base of the pylons.

Cunningham said she’s glad the city is poised to invest in the historic bridge, but she’s not sure $1 million will be enough.

“I think the pylons might need attention. And I’m afraid that there’s going to be so much brickwork and bedwork and foundation work that there won’t be anything left for the artwork, she said.

The lime-based mortar that preservationists last used on bridge sculptures was supposed to be replaced every 10 years, Cunningham said. It’s been 17 years since then.

“All that mortar that’s gone, you can stick your hand, your fingers right in [the sculptures]. The pedestals with the reliefs of the buffalo, the smaller ones, those are hollow, so if water drifts into there and freezes, we could lose them,” Cunningham said.

City spokesperson Megan Lovely said there’s currently no timeline for when bridge construction could start.

“There will be a future item for consideration of proposed improvements and we’ll discuss traffic impact and schedule then. [Tuesday] is just the funding to begin design,” Lovely said.

Because the bridge is on the city’s historic registry, the Wichita Historic Preservation Board will be required to sign off on any rehabilitation work before permits are issued.

Partial road closures are expected to be necessary to complete Minisa Bridge construction, Lovely said.