Repairs to covered bridge could top $300,000

SPENCERVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- A county official says it could cost as much as $300,000 to repair a nearly 140-year-old wooden covered bridge in northeastern Indiana after its roof trusses were broken by a too-tall semitrailer.
 
DeKalb County highway superintendent Eric Patton says he expects to soon have a report from engineers who inspected the Spencerville Covered Bridge following Wednesday's damage. The one-lane bridge about 20 miles north of Fort Wayne has been closed to traffic.
 
Patton tells The Journal Gazette that he expects the trucker's insurance company will pay for the repairs and that the bridge will be returned to its original condition.

The trucker told police he was following his GPS directions when he drove through the bridge. The driver faces a felony charge of criminal mischief.
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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net

Truck heavily damages NE Ind. covered bridge

SPENCERVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- A semitrailer driver who told police he was just following his GPS drove across a historic covered bridge in northern Indiana, leaving the nearly 140-year-old span heavily damaged with shattered roof trusses, officials said.

The DeKalb County Sheriff's Department arrested Gerard Hudson of Waukegan, Ill., on Wednesday after he drove his tractor-trailer across the Spencerville Covered Bridge, shearing off part of one of its entrances and scattering its interior with shattered trusses.

Hudson, 46, remained jailed Thursday afternoon on a felony charge of criminal mischief in lieu of $1,500 bail at the county jail.

The sheriff's department said that Hudson acknowledged driving across the bridge that spans the St. Joseph River near Spencerville about 20 miles northeast of Fort Wayne and told deputies that his rig's GPS device had directed him to cross the bridge.

The Journal Gazette reported Thursday that county highway Superintendent Eric Patton closed the red-and-white bridge Wednesday to traffic.

While the department initially estimated the damage at about $100,000, Patton said Thursday that the final damage assessment would be far higher. He joined members of an Indianapolis engineering firm on the bridge Thursday who were assessing the damage.

Patton said the tractor-trailer traveled the entire length of the bridge -- the county's only covered bridge -- shattering trusses as it traveled.

"He started on the west end and actually took the east end with him," Patton said.

He said the bridge is clearly marked that it has a clearance of 12 feet, 6 inches and also has signs to that effect posted at each end of the span.

According to the Indiana Historical Bureau's website, the bridge has been in use since it was built in 1873. It underwent an extensive restoration in 1981 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places the same year.

Lisa Vetter, who lives about one mile from the bridge, said Thursday that she and other local residents are stunned by the incident that heavily damaged the span.

"I think everybody is pretty dumbfounded and not able to comprehend how anyone in their right mind could drive a semi through a 140-year-old covered bridge. It just boggles the mind. I just don't get it," she said.
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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net