(Reprinted by permission. Current Publishing, LLC. Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved.)

By Leila Kheiry | For The Tribune

More than 150 years ago, the Bell Ford Bridge allowed Hoosiers to cross the White River in the southern Indiana town west of Seymour. It served its purpose for about 100 years before it was deemed unsafe. A storm later destroyed half the dilapidated structure in 1999. The other half of the 332-foot bridge built in 1969 by Robert Pattison fell into the river in 2006.

The pieces were fished out of the water and stored in Jackson County until Hamilton County officials negotiated in 2018 to bring what was left of the bridge about 75 miles north.

That kicked off a years-long restoration project that is coming to an end later this summer. Construction crews are in the final stages of putting the bridge together — using original and replacement pieces — next to the Fishers AgriPark parking lot, less than a quarter mile from the bridge’s future home spanning Fall Creek at Geist Park.

Matt Lee is the bridge program engineer for Hamilton County Highway Department. He said that while the original Bell Ford Bridge had two spans — the section in between the supports — the restored bridge will be a single span.

It will include almost 90 percent original iron castings from the 1860s and a significant amount of the original wood.

“There are about 25 members that are comprised, either partially or entirely, of original timber,” he said. “That is about 40 percent of the primary truss members.”

Webb said that getting to the point of assembling the bridge involved a team of designers and engineers who looked at historic information about the structure, figured out what fit where and came up with a plan to put it all back together again — kind of like a big puzzle, but with lots of pieces missing, broken or mangled.

“A lot of these (iron) bars were kind of all tangled up and really bent,” he said. “It almost kind of looked like a bird’s nest. They would come down and get the members that they felt they could restore and then took them back to their shop to do the restoration work on them. It was a lot of straightening.”

Webb said the original timeline for the project called for the bridge to be installed in September, but it is moving along faster than expected and that installation could be as soon as August. The timing doesn’t depend solely on completion of the bridge, though.

“There are some utility lines that you see around here,” he said, pointing out the overhead power lines along Florida Road. “Some of these utility lines are kind of low.”

And a tall, covered bridge moving down the road would snag those lines.

When the time comes, the road will temporarily close while trucks and cranes maneuver the bridge into place. Webb said he’s heard from neighborhood residents who have been watching the progress and want to know the exact date ahead of time. They want to help celebrate the moment.

“They’re kind of planning some deck parties to watch the moving of the truss,” he said, adding that the bridge is the only combination-post truss remaining in the nation. “Most of the time, it’s exclusively steel, iron or timber. You don’t always have this combination.”

The new bridge also is the final piece needed to complete the Geist Greenway Trail. The City of Fishers recently completed its portion of that 5-mile pedestrian path running north and south from 96th to 131st streets.

“The new Geist Greenway offers pedestrians and cyclists a scenic and accessible way to travel across east Fishers, while also fostering a culture of health in our community,” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said. “Our partnership with Hamilton County to restore and install this piece of Indiana history along the greenway makes this more than just a trail, but a destination in our city.”

The Bell Ford Bridge project cost about $7.5 million. Webb said the county received nearly $3 million in federal funding toward the project’s costs.

Leila Kheiry is a reporter for Current Publishing, which was founded Jan. 25, 2011, and publishes the Current in Fisher and the Current in Lawrence/Geist. She may be reached at [email protected].

(Editor’s note: In November of 2018, Jackson County commissioners voted to give the Bell Ford Bridge to Hamilton County. The deal included a $25,000 donation from Hamilton County for a project restore and place the Hall Round Barn near Medora on the Jackson County Fairgrounds. That project, however, suffered a setback after part of the roof of the barn began to collapse. Hamilton County commissioners said the bridge also keep its name. The Bell Ford Bridge was built during a transition period from wood to steel bridges and was made of a post truss design with two king posts and metal truss rods. The bridge, which had no vertical trusses, was used by vehicles until 1970 when a concrete bridge was built just to the south.)