PUTNAM COUNTY — For Melissa Hammon, the bridges in Putnam County are more than just historic markers in her quiet town.
“That bridge is actually a location where my dad professed his love to my mother by writing in it,” Hammon said.
She recalls driving across the bridge and seeing the words her father wrote to her mother.
“I would love to see the bridges preserved. There’s a lot of history there,” Hammon said.
The bridge not only brought two people together, but it also brought people from one side to the other.
But it’s in danger, just like the other historic bridges found across the county.
“We’re probably the second worst in the state,” Jim Peck, Putnam County Engineer, said.
Peck has been on the job for a year now, and he’s spent that time informing the rest of the County Commissioners, Greencastle City Council and general public that the structures are suffering from water damage, overloading and age.
“We’ve got nine covered bridges in Putnam County. We have 10 truss bridges. Just recently, I’ve had to close four of those bridges because of structural compromises,” Peck said.
Most of Putnam County’s 222 bridges are over 50-years-old, and roughly 52 of those bridges need to be replaced.
Peck has done a solid job letting people in Putnam County know, and they want to be a part of the solution.
“When you think of Putnam County, you think of the bridges. I hope they save them and any help we can be, we’ll help,” Putnam County resident David Samsel said.
Saving the bridges is now a race against both time and nature.
“We are way behind. It’s going to have to be a priority for the county. The big thing is how we’re going to fund it,” Peck said.
Putnam County’s bridges are not on the National Registry of Historic Places, which presents a challenge for securing money.
Also, Putnam County projects haven’t been approved to receive federal money from INDOT for several years now.
“Since 2018, they have not gone after any federal money,” Peck said. “My goal is to try to get federal money each year for a new bridge.”
The drawback is that it could take up to five-years to receive the money after submitting applications.
“Tearing it down would be very heartbreaking,” Hammon said.
Peck believes the bridges can be preserved for their historic significance but cannot support heavy loads or traffic.
“Unfortunately, a lot of these don’t meet the current day geometry load limits,” Peck said. “If we could restore them and build bypass structures, we could still use them and visit them. People could respect that the generation before spent time, effort and resources to build these bridges.”
The Putnam County Commissioners are now working with a nonprofit to get the bridges designated as historic sites.
Putnam County restored a covered bridge in 2016, and it cost $1.3 million.
With inflation and supply chain issues, it could cost $3 million to restore just one of the bridges now, according to the Putnam County Engineer.
