Covered bridge on the old Bloomington Road

I’ve written several times about the road that connects Terre Haute to Bloomington. I have a history with it that goes back to the 1980s, and a bridge that used to be on it helped kindle my love of the old roads. Near the small town of Bowling Green in Clay County, the old Bloomington Road, modern-day State Road 46, crosses the Eel River just east of Bowling Green. This unremarkable bridge carries it today. It was built in 2019 to replace this bridge, which was functionally obsolete and had been allowed to deteriorate too much to be cost-effectively repaired. I loved riding over this bridge back in the day, and was sad when it was removed. This two-span Parker through truss bridge was completed in 1933. I think this is photo is from INDOT Not long ago I found this photograph of an earlier bridge on this route — a wooden covered bridge. According to the caption right on the photo, it served until 1945. I’m wondering how that’s possible, when the truss bridge above was completed 12…