New State Road 57 bridge opens in Newberry, Indiana

Contractors with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) officially opened the new State Road 57 bridge over the White River this week in Newberry, a town in Greene County.

The new bridge was built by Ragle Inc. of Newburgh, Indiana. The company was awarded the $11.3 million contract in 2013.

The bridge is a steal-beam, seven-span bridge that replaces two older bridges that were constructed upstream in 1940. Beginning in 2010, traffic signals limited traffic to just one direction at a time across the old bridge because it was structurally unsafe.

Even though this new bridge is open for traffic, the construction will be ongoing while crews remove old steel trusses. INDOT encourages motorists to obey the posted speed limits, allow for extra driving time and remain alert.

The north portion of the old bridge will be left intact to serve as a habitat for an endangered bat species.

In 2013, the Indiana General Assembly and Gov. Mike Pence allotted a budget that included an additional $1.26 billion from state funds earmarked for transportation projects, of which $200 million was dedicated to local road and bridge work.