You may recall that Hamilton County agreed to take the Bell Ford Bridge in 2018 when it was in danger of collapse and s stored the disassembled parts.  It’s original home was Jackson County, but local officials there could not afford to save the historic post truss combination bridge. Hamilton county Commissioners accepted $2.77 million in federal highway funds to largely pay for the restoration of the nation’s last known bridge of its kind

Hamilton County is preparing to put the structure back together as a pedestrian bridge over Fall Creek at Geist Park, a county facility located in Fishers.

“A lot has happened since we first acquired this bridge,” says Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt in a county news release. “We don’t want people to think we forgot about it. Once complete, this historic bridge will really help create a distinct and special experience to all who visit Geist Park.”

The City of Fishers has been busy creating the trail connections that will lead up to the bridge while the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and Hamilton County Highway Department have been working to secure grant funding. A design team of local citizens being led by VS Engineering has been working to determine the bridge’s aesthetics.

“The bridge will be reconstructed in the same style that it was first built with in 1869,” says Daniel Kurdziel, project manager. “But it will get a bit of facelift. The bridge will receive a more durable roof that mimics the original cedar shake roof and will be rebuilt with the addition of clear polycarbonate siding modeling the original open-air structure. These features will maintain the historic integrity of the original bridge while accenting and protecting the structural members that make this bridge one-of-a-kind.”

Construction on the bridge is scheduled to start in earnest in 2024, nearly 20 years after it was originally placed on the National Register of Historic Places.