Once upon a time, State Road 37 (also the Dixie Highway) passed through Indianapolis on a two-lane alignment. But as the main artery to Bloomington, I’m sure that traffic could overwhelm such a narrow highway. Over the years, this road, like so many others, was improved.
One improvement was to build a new four-lane expressway between the two cities. The big new road began about a mile west of Bluff Road at the I-465 highway, which looped the city.
But after about four and a half miles the new road merged into the path of the old. The old road was dead-ended.
But there was a house right there at old-road’s end. And the old road crossed Pleasant Run just before reaching it, on a bridge built in 1954. That bridge remains, as does the original concrete pavement which probably dates to the 1920s or 1930s.
The railing is of a style I’ve not seen elsewhere on Indiana highways.
This is a reinforced concrete slab bridge; those arches are decorative, not load-bearing.
At its last inspection it was rated as Structurally Deficient for poor substructure and eroding banks. But given that it serves just one house, I’m sure the city isn’t giving this bridge a second thought.
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