Covered bridge project winding down

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The long-delayed restoration of what could become one of Jackson County’s tourist attractions can’t come soon enough for one county official.

“You have to take care of what you have or you won’t have it,” county Commissioner Bob Gillaspy said in reference to the Shieldstown Covered Bridge.

The $1.1 million project to restore the 141-year-old bridge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, originally had been scheduled to be completed by July 31, 2016.

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As a partner in the project, Jackson County funded 20 percent of the work. A National Historic Covered Bridge grant funded the rest. The Indiana Department of Transportation administered the federal monies and assured compliance with federal standards.

The rehabilitation project, however, won’t be wrapped up until sometime in late spring.

“They’re pretty much finished with everything except the approaches,” said Jerry Ault, the county’s highway superintendent.

“We’re just waiting for good weather,” he said.

The double-span Burr arch truss bridge, built by Joseph J. Daniels in 1876, hasn’t carried vehicular traffic since 1980.

Duncan Robertson Inc. in Franklin was awarded the contract for the project in early 2015, and a subcontractor removed the siding from the bridge along County Road 200N in Hamilton Township in the spring of that year.

The project then stalled for months because nearly 70 percent of the wood obtained for the sides of the 355-foot-long covered bridge couldn’t be used after failing to meet national historic preservation standards.

This past summer, a push from INDOT and District 44 Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, to get the project back on track succeeded, Ault said.

Subcontractor Square and Level Construction in Bridgeton resumed work on the bridge Aug. 7, 2017, and worked through the winter to get it completed as soon as possible.

That Parke County company, which specializes in covered bridge reconstruction, also completed a $1.3 million project to rehabilitate the Medora Covered Bridge in 2011.

Gillaspy said he was happy with that company’s work.

“He has done a real good job,” Gillapsy said of Dan Collom, who owns the company.

“He has a long history of renovating these older bridges,” Gillaspy said.

There has been an issue with some of the new siding, but Gillaspy said he expects that to be resolved quickly.

Gillaspy said when he took office Jan. 1, 2017, the project was dead in the water, so he’s pleased it’s back on track and glad it’s about over.

He said the issues with that project should be put in the past once its finished because the county has other projects in the works, including converting the juvenile detention center into housing for inmates and the justice center presently under construction behind the courthouse in Brownstown.

Jackson County once had at least four covered bridges, including the Bell Ford Covered Bridge over the East Fork White River between Seymour and Cortland and the Ewing Covered Bridge west of Brownstown.

Until the eastern span of the Bell Ford Bridge collapsed into the river Jan. 2, 2006, Jackson County had three of the five longest covered bridges in the state.

Gillaspy said he knows the Medora Covered Bridge draws thousands of visitors each year, and there’s no reason to believe the Shieldstown Covered Bridge won’t bring in tourists.

There’s a park beside the Medora Covered Bridge for people to stop and get out of their vehicles. That’s not the case at Shieldstown, but there will be some parking in the approaches to that bridge, Gillaspy said.

There will be some type of dedication program once the project is complete, he said.

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