Hunt Club and Traders Point Area News

If the Boone County Council chooses to not reinstate necessary funds to replace the Ford Road bridge (in other words…defunding) on Tuesday, October 9th at 8:30am in the Annex in Lebanon, approximately $2,580,000 in federal funds and engineer/design costs to date on this project will be lost and not available for another bridge. In the meantime, the existing bridge is crumbling and has been listed as in need of repair for 18 years. A perfectly good, safe project has been presented by the Commissioners and approved by INDOT. It is now time to replace this bridge before the existing bridge falls down or is closed due to structural decay.

The Boone County Commissioners on Monday voted 2-1 to continue moving forward with the existing plan to replace the Ford Road bridge with an historic iron truss bridge. Commissioners Applegate and Eaton voted in favor while Commissioner Wolfe voted against.

The Boone County Commissioners have set a special meeting for Monday, April 23rd, at 9:00am in the Annex to discuss the results of  meetings with the Zionsville Town Council regarding the proposed Ford Road truss bridge over Eagle Creek. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend. In addition, citizens can (and should) make their opinion of the proposed truss bridge known to both the Boone County Commissioners (contact information can be found here) and the Zionsville Town Council (contact information can be found here).

At it’s meeting in February (Monday, 2/6), the Zionsville Town Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the plan to use historic iron truss bridge to replace the current concrete bridge on Ford Road over Eagle Creek. The resolution cites seeming safety and design limitations of the proposed replacement plan currently being pursued by Boone County, who has jurisdiction over the project.

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The Zionsville Town Council is scheduled to meet on 2/6 at 7:00PM. The meeting agenda includes “consideration of a Resolution to the Boone County Council and Commissioners regarding the Boone County Bridge 220 replacement (Ford Road bridge project)”. The purpose of this resolution is unknown.

Anyone with an interest in having the historic iron truss bridge installed as  a replacement of the current concrete bridge over Eagle Creek south of Zionsville on Ford Road should attend this meeting to make their opinion known. Recently, there has been organized opposition to the iron truss bridge in favor of a new concrete bridge. Installation of a new concrete bridge would force the bridge to be built some 9 feet higher than the current bridge to ensure sufficient clearance for floodwater underneath the bridge.

Most likely, a new construction concrete bridge would also entail considerable modification of Ford Road and 96th Street just south of the bridge. This would include modifying the right-angle turn and widening 96th Street in the area of the “tunnel of trees”. The historic iron truss bridge, while originally built in the 1940s, would be completely rehabilitated and brought up to current standards before being placed over Eagle Creek.