The concrete bridge along East 25th Street over Clifty Creek is reopening just in time for the start of the Labor Day weekend.
Crews will spend this morning striping the Clay Township bridge before allowing traffic to come through during the afternoon, Bartholomew County Highway Engineer Danny Hollander said.
Officially known as Bridge 317, the structure has been listed among the top five Bartholomew County bridges most in need of rehabilitation since 2017. Originally built as a part of State Road 46, the bridge was taken over by the county in 1999 when parts of the state highway were rerouted.
The bridge has only been closed for a few weeks, with traffic detoured south of the construction site along County Road 50N. Hollander said crews from Force Construction Co. worked just under the rebar, which are steel bars below the deck used as a tension device in reinforced concrete.
Other repairs were limited to making high quality patches before the deck was seal-coated with an epoxy to protect the concrete, Hollander said.
Eventually, the bridge will need to be replaced. But the cost is expected to run more than $3 million, county Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said. Federal funds will be necessary to construct a new bridge, which normally takes several years to obtain.
But by strengthening sections that are more than a century old, the latest improvements are meant to extend the life of the bridge an additional 15 to 25 years, Kleinhenz said.
While the cost of the repairs was only $266,725, that was still 57% higher than the engineer’s original estimate. Contractors cite both inflation and higher labor costs as the reason.
