The East Bank Trail

The riverwalk's east side, Howard Park to the colleges

The east side: The East Bank Trail is the riverwalk's north–south spine on the east bank. It runs from Howard Park north along the river, past Governor Joseph Kernan Park, to the edges of Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame, where the SR 933 pathway takes the corridor onward. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's trail record states that the trail's northern portion — about half a mile of asphalt reaching St. Joseph High School and the edges of Holy Cross and Notre Dame — "was one of the first rail-trails in Indiana, opening in 1988"; that early date rests on the Conservancy's record alone, and no city or county publication found for this section confirms it, so it stands here as the Conservancy's statement and no more. The trail's southern reach is newer work: a concrete segment continues south from Howard Street and North Shore Drive through the East Bank Village development, and a crossing over the South Bend Dam gives access to Seitz Park above the East Race — the artificial whitewater course the city's own history tells elsewhere. TrailLink measures the whole named trail at 1.7 miles; measured as a runner's out-and-back from Howard Park to Holy Cross and back, the same ground comes to about 3.4 miles, and both figures are printed because they count different things.

At its south end the East Bank Trail meets the Northside Trail at Howard Park, the hub where three of this system's trails join. The park department's present work touches the trail directly: in August 2026 the city announced milling and paving on Colfax Avenue between the East Bank Trail and Eddy Street, the street work running alongside the trail's downtown reach.

Sources:

1. TrailLink (Rails-to-Trails Conservancy), East Bank Trail (IN) (the 1.7-mile length; the northern segment's 1988 opening and first-rail-trails statement, attributed to the Conservancy as its sole carrier — see the note file).
2. City of South Bend news index, August 2026 (the Colfax Avenue paving between the East Bank Trail and Eddy Street).