INDIANAPOLIS —The aging bridge that carries vehicles over the Wabash River between New Harmony and Southeastern Illinois is considered one of Indiana's most endangered landmarks.
Indiana Landmarks released its updated top-10 list this month, and the Harmony Way Bridge became Southwestern Indiana's newest entry.
The bridge is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, but as the Indiana Landmarks report said, "The span is still open, but Harmony Way Bridge faces a far from harmonious future."
The bridge needs repairs, but there's no way to fund them.
"The bridge's piers and abutments have been declared structurally deficient with an estimation of $8.4 million for repairs. The White County Bridge Commission can simply not raise that type of funding," said Stewart Sebree, the director of the Indiana Landmarks Southwest Field Office.
The nearest alternative bridges across the Wabash are in Mount Vernon, Ind., and on Interstate 64, which means driving heavy, slow-moving farm equipment to them is unrealistic — and the New Harmony bridge is a vital link for the area's farms.
That it even remains in operation might be a victory against the odds.
"I don't think we get the credit we deserve," said Jim Clark of Carmi, Ill., chairman of the three-member White County Bridge Commission, appointed by Congress to run the structure.
He recounted a 2001 meeting with Thomas Sharp, then commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation.
The three members of the panel met with Sharp, who had flown in by helicopter, at the bridge and then at a local restaurant. Sharp's opinion on the bridge's future was clear, Clark said.
"He said in no uncertain words, 'Start your closure plan. Close it,'" Clark said. "Here it is, 2012. I think we have done well to keep it open."
Beyond the needed repairs, keeping the bridge's financial books above water also is a challenge. Its only income is toll revenue, and in recent years it has averaged only 900 vehicles a day.
Meanwhile, because it's not technically a public entity, the bridge has to pay property taxes. About $15,000 goes to White County, Ill., each year, and $3,000 more goes to Posey County, Ind. And, its insurance costs have increased by about $5,000 this year.
Those financial pressures have forced the panel to trim the benefit package for its 13 employees.
"We've done everything in the world to cut expense — we've cut vacations, cut sick days and personal days to the employees. They sacrificed in order for us to make more in our funds," Clark said. "It just costs more to operate these days."
However, he said, there are signs of optimism. Traffic is up this spring to about 1,000 vehicles per day, many of which are fertilizer trucks crossing over into the farmland on both sides of the river to ready fields for crop planting.
"The farming season has really been fantastic," Clark said.
Even in the unlikely scenario somehow, the bridge commission finds a way to afford more than $8 million in repairs, its leadership faces a precarious legal situation.
A private company built the bridge and levied the tolls when it opened in 1930. Then in 1941, Congress launched the three-member bridge commission and handed it control of the bridge.
Therefore, although most major bridges are operated and inspected by state transportation departments, this bridge is not.
It's inspected every other year by private contractors hired by the panel, which also determines when upgrades are needed.
The problem is, in 1998 Congress struck from law the mechanism that allowed for appointments to the commission. If the current members were to quit or die, they say, the bridge might have to close.
So what can its three members do?
Clark said they've always wanted their jobs to be abolished, and to hand the bridge over to Illinois or Indiana.
"We are doing our best to get both states to take this over, and to eliminate the commissioners themselves. There's nothing that would please me any more than that," he said.
But, he quickly added, the states won't do that.
"Will they ever? Absolutely not. They will not," Clark said — a position backed up by the fact that, a decade after that meeting with Sharp, INDOT still says it has no interest in running the bridge.
The state, though, has proposed a few ways the bridge could raise money.
Posey County could take it over, if its commissioners agree. And the state could provide about $2.7 million in matching grants to double what the area could raise up to that amount.
The hitch: In exchange, Posey County also would have to take over about 35 miles of highway. The cost of maintaining those roadways, too, make the deal tough to strike.
That much was clear at a November meeting in New Harmony, where local farmers urged INDOT to take control of the road, but the state said it's not interested, and area lawmakers said they see the situation tenuous at best.
"Certainly, the optimal solution would be for one of the bordering states to take possession of the bridge, but to date neither state has expressed a desire to take possession," Sebree said.
"Another option would be to have the Indiana and Illinois legislatures to approve a new public entity to take ownership of the bridge. And another option would be for Congress take some type of action since, I guess, legally, they are the owners of the bridge.
"In the future, Indiana Landmarks will be meeting with local representatives to see where things currently stand with the bridge and what alternatives might be possible to try and save the bridge," Sebree said.
Meanwhile, the bridge waits in need of repairs its operators have no money to pay for.
Although engineers say the bridge needs repairs, its "structurally deficient" rating in recent reviews is less an indication it's crumbling than it is of its age — and the fact regulations have changed since it was built.
Because of a pier the Army Corps of Engineers had to fix six decades ago, the bridge supports a maximum weight of 36 tons — shy of the 40 tons INDOT recommends. Its two 10-foot lanes also do not meet state standards.
To remedy those issues, the bridge's operators have instituted a 25 mph speed limit and required vehicles to stay 300 feet away from each other.
Clark said although he doesn't have a solution to the bridge's issues, he remains hopeful. As for the historical designations, he said although he respects those groups, "that doesn't mean a thing to me. I'm interested in the safety of the structure."