Mike Wolanin | The Republic Motorists pass over the Lowell Road Bridge in Columbus, Ind., Friday, March 15, 2019.
Taxpayers paid $195,000 in 1959 to replace a covered bridge and build the 433-feet long Lowell Bridge northwest of Columbus.
When that same bridge is replaced four to five years from now, the cost will be almost $8 million.
The Indiana Department of Transportation has announced that two separate federal transportation grants have been awarded for two projects involved with replacing the county’s second-longest bridge.
The new bridge, south of the existing one, is projected to cost $5,520,000, Bartholomew County Highway Engineer Danny Hollander said. The second grant of $2,397,600 will be used to realign the intersection of County Road 325W with Lowell Road on the south side of Driftwood River, he said.
Under this grant program, the federal government will pay 80% of the costs, while county government will pay the remaining 20%. While the county applied for a similar grant last year, the funds administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation were not awarded, he said.
Realigning the two roads on the south side of the bridge is necessary because up to 95% of the vehicles use both 325W and Lowell Road to travel between U.S. 31 and State Road 46 West, he said.
“We want to give them the priority so they don’t have to stop (at the new bridge),” Hollander said. “But it will be complicated with the river and the road, as well as a public access fishing site all right there. It will be a year-long project.”
While the start of construction is more than four years away, the awarding of the grants does allow Bartholomew County to begin designing and engineering the project, as well as purchase right-of-way.
The Bartholomew County commissioners got ahead of the game in late 2020 when they approved a $54,000 designing contract with United Consulting Engineers. Under that agreement, United accepted the responsibility of coming up with at least three different design options for the intersection realignment on the south side of the bridge.
Since the new crossing over the Driftwood River will be located south of the existing structure, the county plans to keep the current bridge open during the construction period, Hollander said.
Federal grants were also awarded in some surrounding counties. Seymour received $3.49 million to reconstruct a portion of South O’Brien St, from the new roundabout at the Burkart Bypass to Village Circle Avenue. It’s part of a five-phase reconstruction of the entire O’Brien Street corridor that will cost in excess of $16 million.
Johnson County was awarded $1.25 million to replace a rural bridge crossing Henderson Creek on the county’s west side. The bridge is located along Johnson County Road 750W, just south of Road 100N.
