Counties debate cost of saving aging bridges

County officials across Indiana are finding that saving the state's aging concrete and steel bridges is a task increasingly at odds with concerns about their safety and the cost of maintaining them.\nMany of Indiana's hundreds of older bridges are historic, graceful spans. But they are also buckling under the weight of increased traffic and heavier farm machinery, raising safety concerns.\n"It is cheaper to restore an old bridge than build a new one, but that is not the point," said Michael Denton, county engineer for Carroll County, where debate is raging over the future of a 104-year-old bridge.\n"Our purpose is safety, and that's what's important. We need to be able to move agricultural equipment and people across these bridges."\nThe National Trust for Historic Preservation collectively has placed Indiana's historic bridges on its list of the nation's 11 most endangered historic places, much to the chagrin of financially strapped counties but to the delight of preservationists.\nMore than 1,200 Indiana bridges are 80 to 100 years old.\nThe National Trust estimates that in the past two decades alone, Indiana lost 62 percent of its metal bridges built from 1860 to 1930, part of its "industrial and transportation heritage."\nBut the Federal Highway Administration offers another measure, saying that during that time, Indiana's bridges became more structurally sound.\nIn 1989, the administration rated about 35 percent of the state's local bridges as failing. That has since dropped to 26 percent, thanks in part to increased spending on road construction -- spending that has since dried up due to the state's budget crisis.\nIndiana has more than 600 metal, iron or masonry bridges, but the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana says it is most concerned about preserving 56 of those. Plans are under way to determine where they are located.\nMeanwhile, the state has begun a "bridge marketing" program, under which counties can sell or donate historic bridges facing replacement.\nIn some cases, these bridges are relocated to parks or private properties. On a state transportation Internet site, photos of the bridges are displayed for potential buyers.\nBut Mark Dollase of the non-profit Historic Landmarks group says the goal is to get county officials to think twice before they accept engineering recommendations to replace rather than restore historic bridges.\n"These engineers are making 10 percent of the fees. Which one do you think they are going to recommend?" Dollase said. "You don't hear many recommendations to rehabilitate. And we want a change of the mindset. We want them to at least look at the possibility of rehabilitating an historic bridge"