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Dick Huffman closed as troubling bridge news keeps coming
REELSVILLE — In a hit song of a half century ago, it’s the water that’s troubled, not the bridge.
Then again, Art Garfunkel wasn’t singing about Putnam County.
The hits keep coming for Putnam County Bridges this week, with several either closed, in need of repair or reduced to one lane of traffic.
On Tuesday, the Putnam County Highway Department announced the closure of Dick Huffman Covered Bridge in Washington Township, the latest in a series of bridge closures and restrictions as the Putnam County Highway Department partners with United Consulting to inspect the county’s covered and iron bridges.
According to County Engineer Jim Peck, the bridge had shifted since it was last inspected on May 25, 2022, with diagonal supports having disconnected from the main structure. The western bearing plate is gone, causing rotation of the structure.
Furthermore, the east abutment has continued to settle, with cracks in the structure growing wider.
Critical findings were sent to the Indiana Department of Transportation, and the bridge was closed immediately on Tuesday.
The longest of the county’s nine covered bridges, stretching 265 feet over two spans, Huffman is also one of the three oldest, having been built in 1880 along with Houck Bridge (which was bypassed several years ago) and Dunbar Bridge (more on that later).
Huffman joins Oakalla Bridge in Madison Township as the county’s two covered bridges which are closed until repairs can be made.
Oakalla was closed last October, and the latest news on it is also not good. On Tuesday, the inspector said the damage was apparently the result of constant overloaded vehicles crossing it.
The inspector went so far as to tell Peck he was surprised the 125-year-old structure had not collapsed into Big Walnut Creek.
The estimate to repair the bridge is in excess of $2.5 million. United Consulting did a similar bridge project with less damage, and the bid came in at $1.7 million.
The bridge will remain permanently closed until it can be repaired or replaced.
Edna Collings Bridge in Clinton Township is also in need of maintenance, though the findings are not critical. A few beams are in “advanced rot” and in need of repair, one of them with steel plates. The bridge remains open, but repairs will be made.
Meanwhile, the inspectors uncovered “several critical findings” in a top cord beam of Dunbar Bridge in Greencastle Township.
The good news, Peck told the Putnam County Council on Tuesday, is that the Putnam County Highway Department should be able to do this work in house, thus avoiding a closure or a critical repair.
Peck also shared with the Banner Graphic that the bearing plate on the southeast corner of Dunbar is missing. The problem does not mean a lengthy closure, but will have to be repaired by highway crews at some point.
However, Peck also had bad news for the Putnam County Commissioners Monday regarding a bypass plan for Dunbar.
The county had applied for federal grant dollars to repair the bridge, but INDOT had asked if the local entity would be willing to pay 100 percent of the engineering and right-of-way acquisition, an estimated cost of $700,000.
The federal grant is an 80-20 match overall.
The county balked at this, and INDOT did not include Putnam County when it announced more than $127 million in funding to 38 cities, towns and counties on Monday.
As frustrated as county officials are at the situation, Peck offered the perspective that INDOT is treading new ground as well in dealing with current inflation.
“All the projects that are coming in are 30 percent over budget,” Peck said.
There was talk of going ahead and paying for right-of-way and engineering, then resubmitting the project during the next funding cycle. However, the three commissioners did not seem to be in agreement on this.
The matter will be discussed at a future date, with county officials perhaps also meeting with INDOT before formulating a plan.
The county’s four northernmost covered bridges — Cornstalk, Pine Bluff, Rolling Stone and Baker’s Camp — are due for inspection in April.
The setbacks come as an effort has taken root to further preserve Putnam County’s covered bridges.
In February, Heritage Preservation Society of Putnam County received the blessing of the commissioners to pursue National Register of Historic Place listing for the nine timber structures. Just last week, the bridges were the topic of the presentation for the HPS annual meeting.
The covered bridges aren’t the only ones not faring well in the recent inspections. On Wednesday, another iron bridge failed inspection and has been reduced to one-lane traffic.
Bridge 191, which is on County Road 1000 South, east of Cloverdale, will carry only one lane of traffic after a box beam was found split.
It joins Bridge 154, which was reduced to one lane earlier this month when a beam fell from it during inspection.
Additionally, Bridge 252 in Franklin Township was closed last week.
It becomes part of a list of several bridges in the county that have been closed for a number of years:
• Bridge 71 in Floyd Township, which carried County Road 500 East over Clear Creek, was closed in 2019.
• Bridge 138 in Greencastle Township, which carried County Road 200 East over Dry Branch, was closed in 1997.
• Bridge 139 (Pinhook Bridge) in Greencastle Township carried County Road 125 North across Big Walnut and closed in 2006.
• Bridge 279 carried County Road 600 West over the CSX Railroad in Madison Township and was abandoned in 2003.
Bridge 276 over CSX also remains closed, but the replacement project is moving along, Peck reported Monday. Crews have worked through the mild winter, attempting to make up for countless delays by the railroad company last summer.
The deck is set to be poured on March 29.