By CAMILA FERNANDEZ
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
The closure of Carrigan Road bridge over Morse Reservoir is raising concerns among some Noblesville residents and new challenges for the Noblesville Fire Department.
“You’re used to having the convenience, and all of a sudden it’s gone,” said Sherry Stepp, a Noblesville resident.
To ensure good response time in case of an emergency, the Noblesville Fire Department built this temporary structure on the west side of the Carrigan Road bridge. (Photo provided by WISH-TV)
Hamilton County officials say the Carrigan Road bridge will be closed to replace the bridge deck and clean the beams. The closure started Monday and is scheduled to run through May 29.
The $1.3 million project is now making it harder for residents to get where they need to go.
“I can see me forgetting starting that way and then, oh my gosh, I have to go all the way around and then being late for an appointment,” Stepp said.
On top of that, the Noblesville Fire Department says the project made their jobs a little harder.
“With that bridge closed down, it really affected our response time to this section of town, and so we wanted to make sure that we are still operating under the same guidelines that we normally did,” said Noblesville Fire Department Assistant Chief Adam Biddle.
The fire department built a temporary structure on the west side of the bridge, where they’ll keep a fire engine to protect residents on both sides.
Biddle
“There’s just a couple of areas to travel to get to this part of town and with one of the significant bridges to this area being out, it does pose a very unique challenge,” Biddle said. “Harbour Town Apartments, they became a really good partner in this, and then also the adjacent parking lot where we were able to build the structure.”
There’s also a heater and a generator that will help prevent the water inside the engine from freezing. They say firefighters will also be living at Harbour Town Apartments near their equipment, and according to Biddle, it’ll be quite the challenge.
“The firefighters that are tasked with responding out of here – this certainly took them outside their comfort zone, the fire station that they’re used to being in,” Biddle said.
County officials say that during the closure, local traffic should use the signed detour route of Little Chicago Road, State Road 38, and Hague Road. Property owners will continue to have access to their properties through the construction area.