| New Harmony Toll Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Carries | Two lanes of SR 66 |
| Crosses | Wabash River |
| Locale | New Harmony, Indiana |
| Maintained by | White County Bridge Commission |
| Design |
through-truss spans |
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New Harmony Toll Bridge
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Southern side of the Indiana end
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| Nearest city: | New Harmony, Indiana |
| Built: | 1930 |
| Architect: | Parsons, Klapp, Brinckerhoff & Douglas |
| Architectural style: | Other |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 07001030[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 3, 2007 |
| Material | steel |
| Total length | 2,579 feet (786 m) |
| Width | 20 feet (6.1 m) |
| Number of spans | 47 |
The New Harmony Toll Bridge, also known as the Harmony Way Bridge, is a 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. 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 (.49 of a mile) long. It has 47 spans (from west to east): 31 simple I-beam approach spans, two deck-truss spans, four through-truss spans (of 232 ft, 233 ft, 233 ft and 300 ft), and 10 simple beam approach spans, all with a 20-foot wide concrete roadway.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] The company contracted with the he Nashville Bridge Company of Nashville, Tennessee to build it. The bridge opened on December 21, 1930,[7] and 10,000 people attended the dedication of the bridge on December 30, 1930.[3][8] 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.[9] The Commission remains as the only joint state toll bridge commission chartered by Congress.[10]
About 900 vehicles cross the bridge each day. The bridge collects an average of $30,000 in monthly tolls and has $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.[5][11][12] The three-member Commission was established by Congress on April 12, 1941,[13] 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.[11] The 1941 law contemplated, but did not require, that once the original bonds financing the construction of the bridge were retired, the bridge would be transferred to Illinois and Indiana and the Commission would be dissolved.[14]
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.[15] 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.[9] 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.[16]
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.[17]
From September 2007 to April 2008, cracks in some of the concrete support piers caused the bridge to closed to all traffic. During the closure, contractors drove new pilings to help support existing piers and made other repairs mandated by engineers.[2] In 2010, engineers determined that the bridge requires an additional $6 million in repairs.[18] The National Bridge Inventory has rated the bridge "Structurally Deficient."[19]