The State Of Indiana Gives $350,000 As Seed Money For the Long-Awaited Re-Opening Of The Historic Harmony Way Bridge

The State of Indiana gives $350,000 as seed money for the long-awaited re-opening of the Historic Harmony Way Bridge.

NEW HARMONY- The Harmony Way Bridge has had a long, and always complicated, legal history. Built-in 1930 by a private company and purchased by the Federal government in 1941, the steel truss bridge has had 78 years of unique ownership in a federally appointed commission, The White County Bridge Commission. The 3-member commission managed the bridge as a toll funded interstate bridge until it’s closure in 2012 because of insufficient funds for some needed repairs. Since the owner didn’t rest with the two states it inhabits, after it’s closure its sat, with an uncertain future, with no source of funding for repairs or to demolish it.

When the Regional Cities Initiative was launched in 2015 by the state of Indiana to fund quality of place projects that would attract and retain talent to live in Indiana. Lora Arneberg as a community volunteer headed the effort to include the bridge as one of these projects. It was chosen to be included in our Regions plans, which made matching funds available to pursue the project.

This visionary funding from the state of Indiana and the Efroymson Family fund gave financing for the project, but a long-term solution to the complicated ownership also had to be addressed. Lora worked with the management team at the Louisville Big 4 Bridge to look at how the states of Indiana and Kentucky created an ownership structure for that historic bridge and in the summer of 2018, the state of Indiana and then Illinois created bridge authorities, manned by 10 appointed members from the two states, as independent government entities to own and manage the bridge.

The final step in this epic legal battle was led by Congressman Buschon’s office at the federal level who then, after years of championing this battle, was able to pass a bill to hand ownership from the Federal government to the two new state authorities. After almost 80yrs, this historic regional landmark was finally to be back in local hands with a clear path forward to being repaired and re-opened.

In a final twist of ironic fate, by the time both states bills creating the bridge authorities and the federal bill passed, the bridge had run out of time to use the Regional Cities Funding (whose projects construction had to be completed by April of 2020.) So, now that the long-standing legal issues were resolved, the bridge….again… had no funding.

Which brings us to today’s exciting announcement. The state of Indiana, through the leadership of Governor Eric Holcomb, will be giving $350,000 in seed funding to this important regional preservation and economic development initiative to continue the exciting momentum of this project. This money will cover half of the estimated inspection and repair costs to re-open the bridge which should then self-sustain as a toll bridge once it’s re-opened. The other half of the funding is expected to come to the state of Illinois through the IL bridge authority as equal partners in this innovative solution to this Regional need.

In a time when the country can feel so partisan and divided, this is one example of local, regional, state, and federal representatives and local advocates working across party lines and state lines to find a permanent and creative solution to an 80-year challenge.