Medora bridge bid-letting scheduled

One of Jackson County’s two remaining covered bridges will receive a makeover in 2010, thanks to federal stimulus money.

“It will go out for bid letting on Jan. 27,” Warren Martin, county highway superintendent, said of a project to restore the nation’s longest covered bridge to its original state.

The work on the Medora Covered Bridge, which is 434 feet long, will not begin until sometime in the spring.
“It’ll have to wait until the weather breaks and the river settles down,” Martin said.

The project, which includes replacement of a temporary metal roof with wood shake shingles, has an estimated price tag of about $1.9 million.

The project will be financed totally by federal money.

“There won’t have to be a local match,” Martin said.

Martin said original construction materials will be used as much as possible.

Design work was completed by Jim Barker with J.A. Barker Engineering Inc., Bloomington, and Martin said he is in the process of hiring an engineering firm to oversee the project.

Martin said the restoration work includes new signage and approaches to the bridge, a three-span Burr Arch Truss, to allow easier access for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The bridge was built in 1875 by Joseph J. Daniels and bypassed in 1972 by a concrete bridge on Indiana 235 between Medora and Vallonia.

The bridge is actually 458 feet long if the 12-foot overhangs on each end are counted.