Covered bridge gains OK

ROWNSTOWN — Jackson County commissioners forged ahead with a project to save one of the county’s two remaining historic covered bridges during a meeting Tuesday night.

The project to rehabilitate Medora Covered Bridge has a price tag of $2 million and is slated to be financed with federal stimulus money, county highway superintendent Warren Martin said after commissioners accepted three requests for proposals from engineering firms interested in the project.

“The state has told me to keep working on this,” Martin said after the meeting at the courthouse annex.

At 434 feet long as well as 12-foot overhangs on each end, the Medora Covered Bridge is the longest in the United States and the last triple-span covered bridge in the country.

Built in 1875 by Joseph J. Daniels at a cost of $18,142, the structure was bypassed in 1972 and now sits beside the new concrete bridge along Indiana 235 east of Medora.

In January 2007, commissioners approved a plan to shore up the east end of the bridge to keep it from falling into the East Fork of the White River and place a temporary metal roof over the existing roof to stop additional water damage.

Martin said a construction estimate provided by J.A. Barker Engineering of Bloomington shows actual construction costs right at $1.6 million. The remainder of the project’s $400,000 price tag involves engineering and other costs, Martin said.

J.A. Barker Engineering submitted a proposal for the engineering for the rehabilitation along with four other firms. The other firms are Cripe Architects + Engineers, Indianapolis, Strand & Associates Inc., Columbus; Janssen & Spaahns Engineering, Columbus, and RQAW, Indianapolis.

Martin said he would review the requests to ensure they meet guidelines for federally funded projects and present a recommendation to commissioners before the end of the year.

Martin also said earlier grant monies obtained for the bridge have been used for repairs or preliminary engineering, and there may be some federal grants still available. The bulk of the funding for the project, however, will come from federal stimulus money.

In another bridge matter, commissioners agreed to buy a 0.34-acre site west of a bridge at Rockford from Sharon Hennsley at a price of $7,000. The land will be used when that bridge is renovated, a project that also will be financed with federal funds.