Posey County Commissioners still face decision on New Harmony Bridge

At issue is the future of the closed, half-mile New Harmony Bridge across the Wabash River, linking Indiana 66 to Illinois 14 in White County. The Posey County Commissioners’ earlier vote was to assume ownership of the bridge from the White County Bridge Commission. But thus far, that commitment has not included signing a deed transfer.

Local residents such as Andrew Wilson, a New Harmony Town Council member and spokesman for a nine-member local bridge advisory committee established Dec. 1, want the county commissioners to follow through on their August vote so the bridge’s future can be determined.

The span was closed in May 2012 after an inspector deemed it unsafe. It opened to traffic in December 1930.

“The people of interest, which are primarily in New Harmony, are asking them to honor their commitment,” Wilson said of the county commissioners. “A reasonable person expects taking ownership to mean taking title, and that hasn’t happened yet.”

County Commissioner Jim Alsop, whose district includes Harmony Township, spoke at the August meeting about his reservations with taking ownership of the bridge. Although the vote was 3-0, Alsop has continued to weigh the implications of Posey County taking title.

The county commissioners’ next meeting is Tuesday.

“We are doing our due diligence,” said Alsop, who is Wilson’s uncle. “We were asked to meet in October with people from the Indiana and Illinois transportation departments. If the county takes it over, and the only people who can own bridges are counties and states, we have to do inspections on a four-year cycle. As soon as we accept ownership we have to have an inspection, and the scope of that is pretty intense: underwater piers, load analysis, cracks. There are a number of things that have to be done.”

Alsop said local officials would have no idea what an inspection would find, or what the cost of repairs would be. The inspection by itself would cost about $480,000, with 80 percent being reimbursed by the federal government.

Alsop said another concern would be the availability of grant funds for repairs — and whether Posey County would qualify for those grants.

“We have to mitigate the risk to Posey County as best we can,” Alsop said.

Wilson said that once Posey County takes title of the bridge, its options include razing the bridge or fixing it and reopening it in some form — either to vehicles or to pedestrians. However, he said the bridge’s plight will remain in limbo until the ownership transfer is official.

The bridge for years has been owned by the entity called the White County Bridge Commission, which no longer wants it and would dissolve upon Posey County taking it over. One member of the White County Bridge Commission, Jim Clark, has already resigned. Another member, Mike Egbert, has said he will resign upon the title being transferred. The only other member is New Harmony resident David Rice, the former University of Southern Indiana president.

Wilson said the Indiana Department of Transportation is preparing to give county officials a letter offering to fund demolition of the bridge within three years if no plan is reached to rehabilitate it — provided the county takes title to the bridge. Klenck Co. has provided a $675,000 estimate for demolition.

If the bridge is razed, a natural gas line serving New Harmony would have to be relocated at a local government expense of $1 million to $2 million.

The bridge, said Wilson, is “a way of life” in New Harmony, and losing it would be a blow.

But he said county commissioners should take over the bridge so any future action can move forward.

Alsop — a Republican who narrowly won re-election Nov. 4 over a Democratic opponent who wanted county commissioners to take over the bridge — said he has been hearing a lot of opinions, “but the people who want us to take it over are the vocal ones.”

“I’ll have a lot of sleepless nights between now and Tuesday,” Alsop said. “It’s a big decision.”