Bridging the gap

Two restored 1890s bridges have been installed across the Wabash River north of Geneva.

With a price tag north of $3.36 million, the restoration took more than a decade of fundraising to complete. But it’s only phase one in a two-step plan to connect Geneva and Berne with a walking and biking trail.

Adams County residents created the nonprofit South Adams Trails about 13 years ago to begin fundraising for the project.

“We looked at what’s happened in other communities that really focused on trail development, like Fort Wayne is a good example,” said South Adams Trails committee president Randy Lehman, explaining that Fort Wayne pedestrian trails are used frequently. He added that trails have become more important in recent years and that trails generate more foot traffic for businesses nearby.

“It’s an economic boom for rural communities, just like highways used to be, just like the interstate used to be,” Lehman continued.

The two iron bridges were installed over the Wabash River in November and December. One, the old Grand Rapids and Indiana railroad bridge, once was used by freight and passenger trains, counting author and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter as a rider. It has been sitting unused and partially dismantled for years. The other bridge sat across the St. Mary’s River in Decatur near the Bunge Corporation.

The process for restoration included disassembling the bridge parts and shipping them to a company in Pierceton, Indiana. After committee members discovered the total cost, it took almost 10 years to raise the funding.

South Adams Trails wouldn’t have been able to afford the project if it were not for two grants, Lehman explained. It received an Indiana Department of Transportation Transportation Enhancements Grant, which is specifically targeted for trail projects. The grant funds 80% of a project’s cost, coming to a total for the project at more than $2.69 million.

Another grant through Indiana Regional Development Authority provided $498,000, and another $175,400 came from the Adams County Community Foundation and Greenways Foundation out of Indianapolis. That left South Adams Trails to raise about $673,400.

The bridges now sitting across the Wabash River are still being treated with concrete for the pathway. Once the decking is finished, both will be painted red.

Currently, the trail begins at Rainbow Lake and goes north to the Wabash River. Once the bridges are finished, the trail will continue to county road 850 South. It also connects to Snow Cemetery and the Ceylon Covered Bridge near Limberlost Park.

Phase two will include finishing the last 2-mile segment to Lehman Park in Berne. In total, the trail will span about 3.5 miles once completed.

Laura Schwartz, who lives next to the trail in Geneva, walks along the path at least once a week with her boys, Henry and Eliot Beaver and Robin and Jonah Saxman, and her dogs. An avid nature lover, she’s been on the South Adams Trails committee for a few years and is thrilled to have a walking and biking path next door.

“I think it creates an excellent opportunity to get outside into nature and to exercise,” she said. “It’s (also) another way of connecting the two communities.”