FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. (WDRB) -- The Blackiston Mill Road Bridge that connects Floyd and Clark counties in southern Indiana will remain closed indefinitely as crews work to assess and stabilize the situation.
The closure comes after the dam underneath the bridge failed Sunday.
"The dam itself broke lose over the weekend and a lot of the water is rushing over and has taken out a lot of the soil up to the bridge and around the approach of the bridge," said Floyd County Emergency Management Director Kent Barrow.
Monday, construction workers were hauling in rock to fill in eroded ground around the edges of the bridge.
"It's even worse this morning than it was last night," said Barrow.
After looking at the root system of a nearby tree, crews cut it down to prevent it from possibly being uprooted and tearing away ground around the bridge.
"The bridge was not a direct cause of this event but it's a secondary issue going now," said Floyd County Commissioner Al Knable. "The primary reason for why we're here is because the Blackiston Mill Dam had a partial failure sometime during the day yesterday."
As a safety precaution, officials quickly closed the bridge Sunday evening. There's no clear answer as to when it might reopen.
"I want them to take their time and I want them to get it right. If we can get it open again next week that's great. If it takes a month to get this reopened, that's what it takes. If they tell us that this cannot be reopened and we have to close it until we get the new bridge, then I'm going to lean on the engineers to give me the dynamics on that," said Knable.
While the bridge is closed, thousands of people must find a detour. Barrow said the bridge usually sees about 20,000 cars every day traveling across.
"I'm a creature of habit, and I use this quite a bit because I don't like getting on the highway if I don't have to," said Floyd County resident Timothy O'Meara. "It is sort of an inconvenience but I understand it's got to be worked on so I'll just have to make adjustments and adapt."
Knable said the situation is currently an "urgency" not an "emergency."
Future of the Bridge
Plans have been in place since 2017 to replace the Blackiston Mill Road Bridge, according to Knable. He said a new bridge would be moved slightly upstream and would be wider, with room for bicycles and pedestrians.
He said a new bridge will cost millions of dollars and include federal funding, and as of now, the schedule to open the project for bidding is set for late this summer.
"Whether or not the events of the last 24 hours will help us to expedite that, I don't know," Knable said.
For now, engineers continue to assess the damage and crews are working to stabilize the situation. The detour will remain in place for drivers while the bridge is closed.
Related Coverage:
- Blackiston Mill Road Bridge over Silver Creek in New Albany closed due to dam failure
- Another hole opens up on Blackiston Mill Road Bridge over Silver Creek
- Blackiston Mill Road bridge closed 'until further notice' due to large hole
- Blackiston Mill Bridge reopens after repairs
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