Bartholomew County is beginning work to replace a frequently traveled Lowell Road bridge.
Using federal funding for part of the project, the Bartholomew County commissioners have agreed to pick up 20 percent of the cost of replacing the nearly 60-year-old Lowell Bridge, northwest of Columbus.
Construction on the estimated $2.5 million project near Lowell Road and County Road 325W will not begin until 2024, said Danny Hollander, Bartholomew County Highway engineer.
That should be after the completion of a $30 million overpass over the State Road 46/State Road 11 train crossing leading into downtown Columbus from the west side of the city, Hollander said.
Construction on the overpass could begin in late 2019, and is planned as a response to an increase in longer, faster and heavier CSX trains traveling on the Louisville & Indiana tracks through Columbus.
County Road 325W and Lowell Road have already received some improvements as the two roads now serve as a bypass from Columbus’ west side to North National Road in Columbus. Lowell Road has an overpass over Interstate 65, leading to U.S. 31, where an overpass goes over the train tracks for traffic entering and leaving the city.
Audience member Chuck Doup asked the commissioners Monday for assurances that Lowell Bridge would not be closed while the overpass is under construction.
Commissioners Chairman Larry Kleinhenz said the current bridge will remain in service until the new bridge over the Driftwood River is operational.
“I can’t imagine tearing down the old bridge before constructing another,” Kleinhenz said.
That’s what happened in 1959 when the current Lowell Bridge was built for $186,212 north of a scenic covered bridge that it replaced, Kleinhenz said.
Although the county is handling the replacement of the bridge, efforts to further widen and improve Lowell Road itself are being spearheaded by the Columbus Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Those efforts include a study to determine if some existing flooding concerns can be alleviated, Kleinhenz said.
While road improvements are tentatively scheduled to get underway in 2022, it’s possible the bridge could be built first if the county receives federal funding before the planning organization, Kleinhenz said.
It is also possible that federal funding for one or both projects could be denied, Hollander said.
With the exception of Southern Crossing, the 420-foot long Lowell Bridge is considered the longest county-owned bridge in Bartholomew County, Kleinhenz said.
But at only 24 feet wide, Lowell Bridge is too narrow for today’s traffic standards, Hollander said.
“Everything we put in now is at least 28 feet wide,” the highway engineer said. “With high traffic volumes, we’ll go up to 30 (feet) on some roads.”
While Nov. 23 was the deadline to submit a federal aid replacement application for Lowell Bridge, it usually takes five years or longer to secure federal funding for a large-scale county project, Hollander said.
