Parke County Commissioner sounds alarm about covered bridges

It can be argued that no place in Indiana appreciates covered bridges more than Parke County.

After all, it is home to a 10 day festival devoted to the history of covered bridges across the county. 

It is also a major reason why Parke County Commissioner Jim Meece is sounding the alarm about the state of several covered bridges across the county. 

"One big issue is we have covered bridges that are getting older every year. We have four that have significant structural issues, and they are going to be expensive," Meece told The Parke County Post. 

The four bridges in question are the Nivens Bridge, Sim Smith, the Portland Mills Bridge and Conley's Ford Bridge. 

The Commissioners recently approved spending $23,600 for engineering work on Nivens Bridge. Kurdzeil Barker Engineering will do the work.

Meece said a difficult decision about the future of the bridges will have to be made soon.

"The decision has to be made how do you that and what do you do. Do you put them back into traffic? Do you put them back as pedestrian? Do you set them aside as historic aspects? What do you do with them? It is tough to spend tax dollars on an inadequate bridge, but at the same time, our covered bridges are so important to us as a county. You have to find that happy ground," Meece said. 

Meece said there are one or two that may have to be closed to make them "adequate" for pedestrian traffic for the Covered Bridge Festival. 

"There are some tough decisions we have to make," Meece said.