The Indian River rises approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Georgetown and flows east, past Millsboro, its head of navigation.
It enters Indian River Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean south of Cape Henlopen.
[2] Until 1928, the Indian River Inlet was a natural waterway that shifted up and down a two-mile (3.2 km) stretch of the coast.
In 1938 the United States Army Corps of Engineers built jetties that hold it in place to improve operations for river users.
With the Indian River Inlet in a fixed place beginning in 1928, it became possible to build a bridge to span it.