The effort to preserve the New Harmony Bridge has received a financial boost.
In a news release, the Harmony Way Bridge Project Committee announced a $50,000 pledge from the Kent and Laurie Parker Family Foundation.
The committee said the gift will help offset expenses of restoration and physical improvements to the span over the Wabash River, which supporters hope to turn into a pedestrian space.
Project Director Lora Arneberg said the gift is “structured to enable work on the bridge to begin when the time is appropriate.”
Foundation President Kent Parker called the long-term stabilization and preservation of the Harmony Way Bridge an “important objective.“
The two-lane bridge connecting New Harmony and White County, Illinois opened in 1930.
Officials closed it in 2012 due to structural problems, and a lack of funding to make needed repairs.