After almost two years of construction, Ball State University students can attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Cantilever Walkway along Cardinal Greenway 10 a.m. Thursday across from 909 Grille.
Mark Turner, project manager for the city of Muncie, said the $1.8 million walkway is part of an enhancement project to tie into the Greenway trail.
"The walkway exceeds eight feet wide and overlooks the White River to provide a scenic point above it," he said. "We've installed benches for each overlook."
Cantilever Walkway will have three overlooks at Riverside Avenue, Ashland Avenue and University Avenue, Turner said.
Lenette Freeman, executive director of Cardinal Greenway, said the project was one of three that would help beautify the river area. In the 1970s, the river was dirty and fish were dying, but the Bureau for Water Quality was created to clean it and new fish species started coming back, she said.
The other construction projects included the High Street Bridge, which reopened in 2006, and the White River Greenway that is scheduled to open Spring 2008 and will add trail onto each end of the current greenway.
A presentation about the vision for the river will be given, and Mayor Dan Canan will conclude the celebration with the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Marjorie Ziegler, a member of the Greenway board and community enhancements projects, said the Cantilever Walkway was important because it was in the middle of the approximately 30-mile Cardinal Greenway as well as in the middle of the approximately five-mile White River Greenway.
Freeman said the project was a way to get people back to the river.
"It used to be all broken apart and there were holes in the cement; it was messy and people didn't want to come," Freeman said. "Now, there are flower pots, benches and it's just beautiful. It's an entrance to the city and it says we're proud of who we are and I think it's the whole feeling of pride of where we live and wanting to make it beautiful."