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County awaits word on pair of closed bridges
Two northern Putnam County bridges have been closed indefinitely after failing inspections last week.
County Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts reported that engineers had inspected Bridge 45 in Jackson Township and Bridge 71 in Floyd Township on Thursday and decided it was best to close both.
No report is currently available on what it will take to replace either structure.
Built in 1915, Bridge 45 carries County Road 900 East over Big Walnut Creek, a little more than one mile south of State Road 236.
Though they are situated on the Putnam-Hendricks county line, the bridge and road are Putnam County's responsibility to fix, as counties are responsible for roads on their eastern and southern border.
Prior to the closure, the through-truss iron bridge had a 12-ton rating.
Also built in 1915, Bridge 71 is another through-truss iron structure. It carries County Road 500 East over Clear Creek downstream of Heritage Lake. The affected stretch of road runs between 300 North and 375 North.
Prior to the closure, the bridge had a three-ton rating.
It's unclear what course of action the county will take on fixing or replacing either structure until the full report is available.
In the spring of 2017, the county got a similar report on Bridge 187 in Warren Township. However, rather than having to replace the structure or close the bridge permanently, the county was able to fix the 127-year-old structure for less than $50,000.
"We might as well wait and see what the report says," Ricketts said.
Another old bridge, long since closed but still in place, could wind up being a big cost for the county.
Ricketts said he had been contacted by CSX Railroad about Bridge 279 in Madison Township, which at one time carried County Road 600 West over the railroad.
Built in 1909 and closed permanently in 2003, the structure was deemed sound enough to leave in place, but the railroad has other ideas.
Nearby Bridge 278 on County Road 275 South has been handling the traffic for the last 16 years. Ricketts said that bridge will need to be rehabilitated in a few years and plans to apply for it to be a federal aid project.
As part of that project, Ricketts had hoped to procure funding to remove the abandoned bridge. However, federal aid projects take years and CSX may not be willing to wait.
"If they push for us to remove that bridge, there's going to be an extra cost," Ricketts said.
In what should be a much smaller project, part of Bainbridge-Roachdale Road will be closed for a culvert replacement next week.
With North Putnam Schools on spring break, Ricketts said the aim is to have the road closed between 1000 North and 1100 North from March 25-April 1.
Ricketts said Conexco from Brazil will perform the work.
However, I would say that the bridge was deemed sound enough to stay in place 16 years ago. Even with no traffic, the simple process of aging could have changed things a lot. Also, off the top of my head I don't know the date of the most recent inspection of the abandoned bridge, but the most recent I have record of is 2011. Again, that's eight years ago.