Columbus city officials are confident that the bridge taking vehicle traffic over the railroad at State Road 11 and Jonathan Moore Pike will be a reality sooner rather than later. On July 5th, Gov. Eric Holcomb visited Columbus to help celebrate a shared announcement about the bridge officially being added as an Indiana Department of Transportation project that would begin within the next five years.

John Dorenbusch, a member of the city’s redevelopment commission, serves on the Railroad Community Committee. He said Monday afternoon that the city and INDOT are currently hammering out a a first draft of an agreement to get the work underway. Dorenbusch says that the $30 million price tag will be split, 50/50. Fifty percent paid for out of state and federal dollars and the other half by the city. As for where Columbus will come up with $15 million for this project, Dorenbusch says it will come from the city, county government, CSX, the Louisville & Indiana Railroad and “local employers.” While those employers weren’t specifically named, the Redevelopment Commission, earlier in the meeting, approved a resolution amending where certain tax revenues captured through Cummins’ Tax-Increment Financing District could be allocated. This specific TIF district only affects Cummins. City officials say that more tax dollars are being generated than the company needs to repay a bond. Company officials have approached the city about putting that extra money into a fund that could be spent outside of the TIF district, with the approval of the city and Cummins.

The first draft also addresses the start date for construction of the bridge. Dorenbusch says that INDOT is floating a start date of no later than March of 2020. The city is countering with a start date of mid-2019. Dorenbusch says that he’s confident that construction will begin sometime in 2019, adding that the bridge will be built “the Columbus way.” George Dutro, also a member of the Redevelopment Commission, marveled at how quickly the project is coming together. “It’s a miracle that we went from a concept to a project in under a year,” he said.

Dorenbusch says that the next step is to hire a project manager. A working draft says that the project manager would be a part-time position being paid hourly to help facilitate the construction. Before construction can begin, much work needs to be completed, said Dorenbusch. This includes property acquisition, surveying and engineering work, among other needs.