BLOOMINGDALE — It took only one day for five committed crew members to make Parke County’s Jackson Bridge passable again.
The quick work came on Saturday — two days after damage caused by a box truck closed the bridge — for a group of county highway workers sacrificing their day off to reopen the span on County Road 25W for traffic avoiding a U.S. 41 closure.
“The bad thing is that it’s basically the main way,” Parke County Sheriff Justin Cole said on Friday.
Travelers between the Rockville area and Fountain and Montgomery counties have been using the 159-year-old covered bridge to avoid the highway closure two miles north of State Road 47.
With the bridge closed, motorists were set for lengthy detours using roads that were not designed for large trucks or high levels of traffic.
But the efforts of Parke County Highway Department workers Buck Vandivier, Mike Wood, Jacob Cole, Wesley Garrett and foreman Scott McMaster alleviated those concerns, making repairs to the nine overhead trusses taken out by the Oklahoma box truck.
“This is exactly why I love Parke County,” Commissioner Jim Meece said. “With U.S. 41 closed by the state, this route became vital for people trying to get to work and home.
“These guys get it.”
Meece also said the bridge will be closed temporarily for complete repairs this week, but added it will be scheduled during the day to avoid morning and evening traffic.
The relatively unique design of the bridge creates an illusion for tall trucks as height clearance inside measures roughly two feet lower than the opening, Meece said.
“The red bars on the side are 12-feet high,” he said. “The cross bracing inside is 10 feet, six inches — not a good design.”
On Friday, Sheriff Cole said the height of the box truck was what caused the damage.
“About every couple weeks they’re repairing it because semis are driving through,” he said.
The official detour shown on the Indiana Department of Transportation website reroutes travelers to State Road 63 in Vermillion County north from U.S. 36 to State Road 243 — a difference of roughly 33 miles to return to U.S. 41, which is scheduled to remain closed until Sept. 18.
Jackson Bridge, completed in 1861, is Indiana’s longest single-span covered bridge and the oldest still standing built by J.J. Daniels, whose name appears on covered bridges throughout Parke County.
Named after President Andrew Jackson, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
