The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announced on Oct. 28 that State Road 145 will be fully closed near Bristow to allow for rehabilitation of the bridge over Maggity Branch. The closure is set to begin on or around Nov. 4 and is expected to last through mid‑February 2026, weather permitting. INDOT has posted an official detour routing traffic onto State Road 62 and State Road 37 while allowing local traffic to travel up to the closure point.

Reports confirming the announcement were published Oct. 28 by multiple local outlets, including WFIE (14 News), WJTS, WEVV News and Tri‑State Homepage, all citing the same basic timeline, location and detour information. INDOT’s Vincennes District will oversee the project as part of ongoing bridge and roadway maintenance in southern Indiana.

For Perry County, the closure reaches beyond construction work to touch daily life in small towns and rural homesteads. SR 145 serves as an important north‑south corridor linking Bristow and surrounding communities with Tell City and other regional services. With the route cut for potentially more than three months, residents may face longer commutes to work, extended travel times for school and medical appointments, and added difficulty for agricultural vehicles moving between fields and markets. The detour along SR 62 and SR 37 will increase travel distance and could raise fuel costs and time spent on the road for many drivers in an area with few convenient alternate routes.

The closure follows the recent reopening of another segment of SR 145 over Theis Creek, and INDOT materials indicate this Maggity Branch project is separate from July 2025 pipe replacement work previously completed on the highway. That sequence of maintenance underscores an ongoing program to address rural infrastructure needs, though it also concentrates multiple disruptions on the same corridor within a short period.

Specific technical details in published reports identify the Maggity Branch bridge as the closure point but do not list precise mile markers. Local officials, emergency services and commercial operators will need to confirm exact closure boundaries with INDOT to recalibrate response plans and delivery routes. Residents are advised to monitor INDOT updates for possible weather‑related schedule changes and for notices of any community meetings or outreach sessions.

The closure highlights broader themes relevant to rural counties: maintaining safe bridges and roads requires periodic, sometimes lengthy, interruptions of travel, and the cost of detours is felt disproportionately where alternative corridors are limited. Perry County drivers who routinely use SR 145 should plan alternative schedules and routes beginning in early November, and community leaders may wish to coordinate with INDOT and school transportation officials to mitigate impacts.

For further confirmation and the most current information, INDOT and the Vincennes District remain the primary sources, and the initial reporting outlets—WFIE, WJTS, WEVV and Tri‑State Homepage—have published the announcement and timeline.