New Harmony Toll Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°07′51″N87°56′29″W / 38.13090°N 87.9415°W |
Carries | IL 14 / SR 66 |
Crosses | Wabash River |
Locale | New Harmony, Indiana |
Maintained by | White County Bridge Commission |
Characteristics | |
Design | Riveted, Parker through truss |
Material | Steel |
Total length | 2,579 feet (786 m) |
Width | 20 feet (6.1 m) |
No. of spans | 47 |
History | |
Opened | December 21, 1930 |
Closed | May 21, 2012 |
Statistics | |
Harmony Way Bridge | |
Architect | Parsons, Klapp, Brinckerhoff & Douglas |
NRHP reference No. | 07001030 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 3, 2007 |
Location | |
The New Harmony Toll Bridge, also known as the Harmony Way Bridge, is a now-closed two-lane bridge across the Wabash River that connects Illinois Route 14 with Indiana State Road 66, which is Church Street in New Harmony, Indiana. The bridge links White County, Illinois with Posey County, Indiana and carried U.S. Route 460 from 1947 until 1974 when the highway was decommissioned in Illinois and Indiana. The four-span bridge is owned by the White County Bridge Commission and was built without federal funds in 1930 by the Big Wabash Bridge Company of Carmi, Illinois. [2] [3] The next bridge across the Wabash about 15 miles (24 km) downstream is the Wabash Memorial Bridge near Mount Vernon, Indiana and the next bridge upstream is for Interstate 64, which does not allow farm vehicles. [2]
As originally designed, the bridge is 2,579 feet (0.49 of a mile) long. It has 47 spans and a 20 foot wide concrete roadway. [4] : 2–3
The bridge is the first highway bridge erected across the lower Wabash River and the oldest remaining bridge in use over the Wabash's length in Illinois and half of Indiana. [4] : 9 The original owner was a private company, the Big Wabash Bridge Company of Carmi, Illinois, which was chartered by Congress to build and operate the bridge on May 1, 1928. [5] The company contracted with the Nashville Bridge Company of Nashville, Tennessee to build it. The bridge opened on December 21, 1930, [4] : 15 and 10,000 people attended the dedication of the bridge on December 30, 1930. [3] [4] : 16 In 1941, Congress created the White County Bridge Commission as a joint Illinois-Indiana agency to purchase the bridge from the Big Wabash Bridge Company for $895,000. [6]
About 900 vehicles crossed the bridge each day. The bridge collected an average of $30,000 in monthly tolls and had $22,000 in monthly expenses. [2] The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 in part because of its relationship to historic New Harmony, Indiana, as well as the bridge's age. [4] : 9 [4] [7] The three-member commission was established by Congress on April 12, 1941, [8] but Congress repealed the statute providing for an appointment mechanism in 1998. The commission's general manager, who is 75, speculated that the bridge would close if the three current commissioners would resign or die. [7]
In 1951, the current toll booth on the western edge of the river was constructed by the Electronic Signal Company, to replace an earlier booth on the eastern edge. [4] : 8 In 1952, a tollpayer sued to exercise his right to inspect the books and records of the commission, but lost his lawsuit and was not allowed access. [6] In 1955, the General Accounting Office issued a report critical of the commission and claiming that one commissioner had a conflict of interest. In response, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a suit seeking removal of the commissioner and recovery of the misapplied funds. However, the courts dismissed the case. [9]
In 1994, the commission contracted to apply an epoxy coating on the bridge's surface, but the coating delaminated and the commission refused to pay the contractor claiming that the coating had not been applied correctly. After a trial, the commission lost the lawsuit and paid. [10]
From September 2007 to April 2008, the bridge to closed to all traffic when cracks appeared in some of the concrete support piers. During the closure, contractors added new pilings to the existing piers and made other required repairs. [2] In 2010, engineers determined that the bridge required an additional $6 million in repairs. [11] The National Bridge Inventory rated the bridge "Structurally Deficient." [12]
On May 21, 2012, it was announced that the bridge would close permanently at noon on May 29, 2012. White County Bridge Commission member Jim Clark stated, "the cost to make repairs was more than we could imagine." [13] However, Clark then made the decision to close the bridge immediately after receiving the complete report from a team of nine engineers who inspected the bridge. "I knew it was bad, but didn't know just how bad until I received their full report by email Monday morning," Clark said. "Once I saw their weight-load calculations, I knew we had to shut it down right away. We couldn't wait until May 29." [14] The thirteen toll booth employees were laid off. As of the closure there are $49,015 in toll tickets that have not been used. Refunds were given for thirty days from the closure. The closure of the New Harmony Bridge as reported in the Evansville Courier & Press would have a significant impact on farmers in the area and the oil industry. The bridge's closure increases the distance between New Harmony and Crossville, Illinois, by about ten miles.
The New Harmony Toll Bridge was identified as a top priority among the thousands of rural bridges in the United States worthy of repair in President Biden's “American Jobs Plan” proposed on March 31, 2021. [15] The Bill must first be approved by The US Congress, including votes by Indiana's 8th Congressional District Representative Larry Bucshon and US Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun. All three subsequently voted against the final bill. On the Illinois side, Mary Miller of Illinois's 15th congressional district voted no, while Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth voted yes. [16] [17]
Posey County is the southwesternmost county in the U.S. state of Indiana. Its southern border is formed by the Ohio River, and its western border by the Wabash River, a tributary to the Ohio. As of 2020, the population was 25,222. The county seat is Mount Vernon.
Gibson County is a county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 33,011. The county seat is Princeton.
White County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 13,877. Its county seat is Carmi. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as "Little Egypt".
Scouting in Indiana has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana. It lies 15 miles (24 km) north of Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. The town's population was 690 at the 2020 census.
Evansville is a city in and the county seat of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 census, it is Indiana's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the most populous city in Southern Indiana, and the 249th-most populous city in the United States. It is the central city of the Evansville metropolitan area, a hub of commercial, medical, and cultural activity of southwestern Indiana and the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area, which is home to over 911,000 people. The 38th parallel north crosses the north side of the city and is marked on Interstate 69 immediately north of its junction with Indiana 62 within the city's east side.
The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 460 miles long, it was the longest canal ever built in North America.
Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two most voluminous rivers in the United States: the Mississippi below its connection with the Missouri River to the west and the Ohio River to the east and south, with the Wabash as a tributary.
State Road 62 (SR 62) in the U.S. state of Indiana is an east–west route that travels 204 miles (328 km) from the Illinois state line in the southwest corner of Indiana to the Louisville, Kentucky area, then northeast toward the Cincinnati, Ohio area.
State Road 66 is an east–west highway in six counties in the southernmost portion of the U.S. state of Indiana.
Illinois Route 14 is a major east–west highway in southern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 51 south of Du Quoin to the New Harmony Toll Bridge over the Wabash River to State Road 66 at the Indiana state line. This is a distance of 76.24 miles (122.70 km).
Illinois Route 141 is an east–west state road in southeastern Illinois. It runs from U.S. Route 45 west of Omaha to the Wabash Memorial Bridge over the Wabash River into Indiana. The bridge is also the western terminus of State Road 62. This is a distance of 18.17 miles (29.24 km).
The Bi-State Vietnam Gold Star Twin Bridges,, are located in Henderson County, Kentucky and connect Henderson, Kentucky, and Evansville, Indiana, along U.S. Route 41 (US 41), two miles (3.2 km) south of the current southern terminus of Interstate 69 (I-69). The two bridges average more than 40,000 vehicles crossings a day across the Ohio River.
Southwestern Indiana is an 11-county region of southern Indiana, United States located at the southernmost and westernmost part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the region's combined population is 474,251. Evansville, Indiana's third-largest city, is the primary hub for the region, as well as the primary regional hub for a tri-state area that includes Kentucky and Illinois. Other regional hubs include Jasper, Vincennes, and Washington. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region's culture and language, like much of the rest of Southern Indiana, is aligned more with that of the Upland South rather than the Midwest.
The Wabash Valley Seismic Zone is a tectonic region located in the Midwestern United States, centered on the valley of the Lower Wabash River, along the state line between southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana.
Interstate 64 (I-64) in the US state of Indiana is a major east–west highway providing access between Illinois and Kentucky. It passes through southern Indiana as part of its connection between the two metropolitan areas of St Louis, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky.
The Cairo and Vincennes Railroad was a 19th-century American railroad that connected Cairo, Illinois, with Vincennes, Indiana. It was chartered by the state of Illinois in 1867 through the efforts of former American Civil War General Green B. Raum, who subsequently oversaw the planning and engineering of the proposed line. Within a few years, the fledgling railroad company named another former general, Ambrose Burnside, as its president. The Cairo & Vincennes began laying track in 1870 and completed the initial portion in 1872 to haul coal from southern Illinois mines. However, the route was not fully completed until late in 1874.
The Wabash Memorial Bridge carries vehicular traffic across the Wabash River between Indiana State Road 62 and Illinois Route 141. The 4,932-foot-long (1,503 m), two-lane bridge is located in both Posey County, Indiana, and White County, Illinois. The bridge is operated by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). The bridge was built in 1956 and has an estimated life of 75 years. It is the southernmost span connecting Illinois and Indiana, with the next bridge to the north located 20 miles north in New Harmony, Indiana, but the next drivable bridge is on Interstate 64, located about 35 miles to the north, near Griffin.
Shopbell & Company was an American architectural firm located in Evansville, Indiana, in the United States.
The Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area is a tri-state area where the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky intersect. The area is defined mainly by the television viewing area and consists of ten Illinois counties, eleven Indiana counties, and nine Kentucky counties, centered upon the Ohio and Wabash Rivers.
Notes