With latest closure, bridges of Madison Township remain a problem

What is the plan from our elected county administrator's to fix the bridge problem? Also who will be held responsible when Fire/EMS/Police that is now delayed even longer by these bridge closures if there is loss of life or property?

Most fire departments and EMS have been bypassing these old bridges for a while now, due to weight limits. However, I think the "kicking the can down the road" all those years has finally caught up. I can't imagine the cost of bridging the railroad nowadays. I bet one would cost as much as the new courthouse annex!

Wouldn’t it be far easier/cheaper to make this an at grade crossing and install 2 stop signs? Leave the bridge and when it falls on the tracks CSX will all of a sudden care about this issue. Just reroute the crossing far enough from the bridge to avoid the collapse.

Let’s move forward

It would probably save a lot of money to make that crossing change, but at least in the case of the Fillmore bridge, the trains tend to park there for extended periods which would inconvenience farmers and travelers.

I would like to mention that the Arnold crossing is the crossing that is used when the railroad works on the other two tracks. It happens more than one thinks. It also could jeapordize the families who live next to that bridge. If it’s closed and fire dept needed (has been called in the past) or ambulance and there is loss of homes or worse life that is on the county. Those were built to be taken care of and I am curious to any maintenance the county ever did to these bridges. We pay taxes and more so as farmers ground taxes have risen a lot. I am curious as to what does the county show for them who take care of the ground?

Currently, the Putnam County Council is toying with the idea to raise the wheel tax/surcharge for every vehicle registered in Putnam County to cover the cost of these bridges. These are long overdue projects and should have been addressed well before they need shut down completely! Someone must be asleep at the wheel.

Your property tax does not fund the County Highway Department. That is done through the wheel tax. As for the railroad bridges, again the County Highway does not maintain them, the railroad does. So the frustration should be be directed towards CSX! And remember if you look at the date of construction of these bridges, they were built to handle the size and weight of the vehicles at that time. Since then the vehicles have grown in both size and weight. That also applies to the other bridges as well. I guess another question is why doesn’t the Sheriffs department (they are the enforcers not the Highway dept)randomly stop trucks and farm equipment that have gone over a bridge for weight checks? I have seen 1st hand numerous violations of weight limits.

Good luck getting the railroad to maintain a county bridge. And they didn't pay the millions for the Saddle Club bridge, taxpayers did. It probably gets less traffic than what the Commissioners just closed. Saddle Club bridge was built for the convenience of the 3 Fat Labs event center.

Just a quick note. CSX came to our house to ask if we would close our driveway since this farm was grandfathered in when the railroad was put in. I asked them what we would do and they proceeded to tell us they would provide a drive along the railroad to that very bridge in Fillmore. Which their part they own is a steep hill so not sure how that would work.

I asked what happens when the bridge would need to be repaired and they told me specifically that is up to the county. It has nothing to do with CSX. I told them that we will keep our driveway because we need it for the farm equipment as the bridge was never used for it to begin with. I do not know where the money comes from for repairs but honestly all the county bridges should have been on scheduled maintenance through the years. Just sad to see another historical bridge dropped like it meant nothing to those who built our county and put their hard working hands to build it.

I agree with rebeccaarnold87.

Sad the bridges were not maintained. Years and I mean years ago the bridges were maintained. What happened to the workmanship and pride in building and repairing? It’s a throw away generation. Please try to find a way to repair replace and maintain our bridges. Or find alternative solutions to the problem. There’s always railroad crossing with lights and barrier arms.

I am by no stretch a structural engineer but I question the 2 underpasses in Greencastle. Both US231 and Rockville Rd. underpasses look like they have seen better days.

The $95 billion recently gifted to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan would probably go a long way toward improving the nation’s bridges.

This issue has nothing to do with Federal foreign policy, it has everything to do with local officials neglecting maintenance of infrastructure for many decades, as others have mentioned above.

We pay taxes. Many of those tax dollars go to the federal government, most of those under protest from me. The federal government sees fit to send billions of dollars to foreign countries, lazy people, huge defense contractors, and all manner of other parasites, again under protest from me. Our tax dollars belong here at home, paying for the services we use here at home.

If the local governments misuse those tax dollars, that’s a separate issue, and should be dealt with accordingly. They all work for us, but they act like we work for them.