The firm tapped to design the Cline Avenue bridge in East Chicago is the same firm behind the design of the pedestrian bridge under construction in Miami that collapsed Thursday killing at least six people.
FIGG Bridge Group is the designing partner for the Cline Avenue bridge, which is under construction. The $150 million reconstruction is being paid entirely by private investment by United Bridge Partners, which will operate the bridge as an all-electronic toll road.
Local officials say they are waiting for more information about the circumstances surrounding the bridge collapse in Florida before commenting on what impact it may have on the local bridge project.
"We just found out this morning," Val Gomez, East Chicago chief of staff said Friday morning. Gomez said he personally learned of the connection between the Miami bridge and the Cline Avenue bridge on the early morning news.
"Right now, we are like everybody else. We just found out about the bridge collapse," Gomez said.
Until an investigation is complete it is not possible to know what caused the collapse or if there was a fault with the design or with the construction. FIGG has designed both projects. Different construction companies are being used to build the bridges.
"We are concerned like everybody else about the safety of it. There is not very much we can say," Gomez said. "We are concerned about the safety issues. We are concerned about what happened in Florida. What's the tie-in? Who's responsible? Before we do anything, we are waiting to see what FIGG's response is."