Jim Grey

A couple of INDOT photos of the demo. :-(

This is awesome! I have searched high and low for a photo of this bridge and it is great to find one here.

I'm president of the Historic Michigan Road Association, which won historic byway status from the state for the road.

It'd be nice to see under this bridge, how it's constructed. I live in Indy (waaaaay on the other side of town from this bridge, so I'm not familiar with it) -- the railing on this bridge is typical of those around town I've seen with plates showing 1950s-60s build dates.

This is a hidden gem. If you've only ever driven 38th St., you might not ever know this bridge is here. The iron fence on both sides of the street obscure the bridge's railing.

I am struck by how similar this bridge looks to the SR 933 bridge over the St. Joe River in South Bend:

http://bridgehunter.com/in/st-joseph/11046/

I know George Kessler's fingerprints are all over the bridge and park system in South Bend. Makes me wonder if the same firm built both bridges.

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I think transfer of a state bridge to county ownership is a worse situation for old bridges. My experience with Indiana counties is that their commissioners tend to favor demolishing and replacing old bridges rather than rehabilitating them. I've also seen counties let old bridges just rot to the point of no return and then replace them because they can sometimes get big federal money for that, whereas maintenance and rehabilitation has to come entirely out of county coffers.

So excited to learn that this is a Luten bridge. I live around the corner from it and drive over it all the time.

Per Indiana Landmarks, this bridge has reopened!

I've seen photos of a stone arch bridge somewhere inside JPG. It would probably make for a fabulous day of bridgehunting to just drive around in there.

I drove out to see these a few years ago. There have been rumors all along that these were slated for demolition. There have also been rumors forever that officials want a 4-lane US 50 here and that would take these bridges out.

The Google Maps image shows a concrete slab here now. Is the location correct, or is this bridge now lost?

INDOT closed this bridge again today over "structural safety concerns" due to "more corrosion in the structural steel than was previously documented."

http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=57957&information_id=116959&type=&syndicate=syndicate

I've driven under this while it was still there. Might have been as recently as 2006.

Apparently this one's been saved. Per Indiana Landmarks: "In 2004, Boone County Commissioners considered demolishing County Bridge #32 over Sugar Creek in favor of a two-lane replacement. The steel through-truss bridge is beloved by locals who rallied - with help from Indiana Landmarks - to petition the commissioners to save the historic span. Farmers even stated they'd rather detour their heavy farm equipment around the old bridge so it could be saved. The support worked, and officials voted to rehabilitate the span, a project due to wrap up this summer. As a "Select" bridge under the Programmatic Agreement for the Management and Preservation of Indiana's Historic Bridges, a program designed to save the best of Indiana's historic spans, Boone #32 should be protected for years to come."

I drove over this bridge the other day and shot video of the experience (camera suction-cupped to the windshield).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7OtWWy6J9s