Letter sent to Governor Holcomb- "GIFT" Big Blue Bridge to our Community! Please Help!
Dear Honorable Governor Holcomb,
The year was 1941, Roosevelt was president of the US, WW2 was on the horizon, and Portland, IN was building a proud new Parker Steel Truss Bridge over the Salamonie River!
For 81 years, folks have enjoyed driving through the trusses of this well-known local landmark that serves as a gateway into our community! We want to preserve this architectural treasure and unique experience of traveling through trusses for all to enjoy. BUT, TIME IS RUNNING OUT. If you can’t save our bridge where it stands, then please, will you help us acquire Our Big Blue Bridge to use on a much needed trail system?
We have a plan.
We have a place to put the bridge.
We have a place to store it at our local fairgrounds until we are ready.
We have funds available for a shovel ready trail at the Portland Foundation
We have a company ready to help us dismantle, number, relocate, and restore.
We have Federal grants available that will pay 80% of the cost to repurpose it for trail use.
But we DO NOT HAVE our BRIDGE! It just needs to be released to us. (INDOT graciously offered to sell it to us but our small rural community could not in good conscience justify spending $489,000 needed for a dismantled bridge, in pieces, without having necessary time to develop a proper plan for such a wonderful project of this magnitude!)
The Big Blue Bridge was scheduled to be demolished this week-but then, a miracle happened! The replacement of our bridge has been put on hold for a couple of months which gives us an opportunity to reach out to you today and implore you to please help us preserve a piece of our heritage-The Big Blue Bridge! We are proud of our bridge and would like to see it restored and historically protected instead of demolished. Our community takes great pride in this bridge. It’s a local landmark that distinguishes us from other communities.
You clearly have a passion for building trails and helping small communities Your Next Level trail initiatives have improved the well being and quality of life for many in our state! Our community needs your help to acquire a beautiful truss bridge that definitely belongs in your NextLevel Trails Program! Please help our community…all we need is our bridge!
The bridge is beautiful; it’s impressive to look at, and fun to cross through. Without such landmarks, our city would not be as interesting to visit. It is vitally important to preserve our bridge for future generations.
The initial cost for restoring the historic bridge is cheaper than demolishing it and replacing it with a new structure. Just imagine, if each tax paying citizen in Indiana was to pay only 12 cents, you could gift our community the historic bridge that we would eventually incorporate into a bike trail that everyone could benefit from! We as the community think it is worth the effort to keep a piece of our heritage for everyone to enjoy. There are many examples of historic bridges in the state that have been repurposed for use in parks and on bike trails. Our big blue bridge definitely deserves to be reused for that purpose.
Truly, it’s hard to picture Portland without our Big Blue Bridge adorning the highway over the river. Our Parker Steel Truss bridge is the last of its kind in Jay County. They don't make them like this anymore, yet they are an architectural treasure that can be enjoyed by all generations. Wouldn’t it be a great story? A story of how we came together to overcome what seemed impossible and achieve something special? Won't you help us save our bridge? There must be something you can do. Will you Gift the Big Blue Bridge to our small town? Would you be able to build it into the project budget? The cost keeps rising yet they still keep moving forward with it so why can't they pad it a little more and give the bridge to our community who loves the bridge for use on a trail? There must be a fund you can use for things like this. We have 2 months to relocate the bridge since the replacement project is delayed. We can do it! We just need your help. We would be ever so appreciative and grateful to you. Thank You.
Sincerely, Friends of the Big Blue Bridge