A historic bridge in Madison County reopened over the weekend during the annual Covered Bridge Festival. Two-and-a-half years ago it was destroyed by an act of arson. The rebuilding of the Cedar Bridge cost nearly $750,000 and had to be paid for by donations and grants because it wasn’t insured.
Madison County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Heather Riley says that will never happen again.
“We were able to be part of a risk sharing pool with other communities like ours who have cultural historical icons,” says Riley. “We were able to be part of something like that, which was extremely helpful and made it affordable for us.”
For years, the six bridges have only been open to foot traffic, but Riley says the new Cedar Bridge will be the only one to allow cars to cross.
“There is a road going around it so you don’t have to cross Cedar Bridge to get where you’re going. But a lot of people want that experience of driving through and so when Cedar Bridge was rebuilt, it was rebuilt to handle vehicle traffic,” says Riley.
The Madison County bridges have all been updated to have fire suppression and video surveillance systems.
