License plate winner.

INDIANAPOLIS — After a month-long vote starting in August and ending in September, Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) Commissioner Kent Abernathy announced Indiana residents have chosen a covered bridge design to replace the outgoing Bicentennial license plate.

“The first day of fall is a great time to announce the covered bridge license plate is our winner,” said Commissioner Abernathy. “Not only is this colorful design with a red bridge spanning a creek the top vote getter, it won big,” he added.

Three plate designs were in the running but it was the covered bridge choice that garnered 54 percent of the vote. The Hoosier State silhouette plate was second with 39 percent and fewer than seven-percent of those who voted liked the “Crossroads of America” design.

In all 331,298 votes were cast in the license plate choice, through BMV’s website, at BMV’s State Fair Booth or at BMV Self-Service Terminals throughout the state.

Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Intellectual Technology Inc., a firm that designs and manufactures license plates for states all over the country, did the artwork.

The covered bridge plate will begin appearing on vehicles in January of 2017 as older plates are replaced at the end of the normal seven-year life cycle. It will join “In God We Trust” as one of two, standard, no-extra-cost plates. The new design can also be purchased before the end of the license plate life cycle for $10.25.