Instead of rebuilding the beleaguered Cline Avenue bridge, state officials announced Thursday that Riley and Dickey roads will be rehabilitated to permanently handle Cline traffic.
The estimated $75 million plan calls for the resurfacing of Riley and Dickey roads and the construction of new ramps at Dickey onto Cline. An existing four-lane drawbridge along Dickey will handle barge traffic on the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal.
The trip will take motorists an estimated three minutes, or six minutes during rush hour. Those projections are in comparison to the average minute and a half it took motorists to travel the closed expanse over the canal. While the bridge was built in the 1980s to handle an upward of 100,000 vehicles, the traffic never materialized, with an estimated 33,000 vehicles using the expanse per day of late.
The Indiana Department of Transportation permanently shuttered the Cline Avenue bridge in December citing safety issues, including 300 new hairline cracks developed in the concrete from the time the bridge was last inspected and temporarily closed in November.
Bob Zier, chief of staff for INDOT Commissioner Mike Reed, said constructing a new bridge would take longer than the project's current timetable, and state officials felt it was important to wrap up work while funds were available in Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' Major Moves highway program.
INDOT expects the project will create 2,300 jobs for the area.
"It didn't make sense to rebuild that type of structure out there," said Zier, who also noted the decision coincides with the Marquette Plan, which calls for a ground-level alternative to the raised expanse.
The foundations of Riley and Dickey roads were engineered to handle heavy-duty truck traffic. INDOT will repair the roads' surfaces and improve drainage along the stretch, Zier said.
The Cline Avenue Coalition comprised of the mayors of Whiting, Hammond, East Chicago and Gary, along with key businesses and other stakeholders in the area, previously asked INDOT to build a new, but lower bridge, using the existing rights of way along Cline. Zier said the state did consider building a lower bridge but felt the agency's alternate plan offered a more efficient timetable.
The coalition's plan also requested work on the Cline Avenue and Jeorse Park exit near Ameristar East Chicago and the East Chicago Marina. There's still a possibility a new ramp could be added to serve traffic accessing the area, Zier said.
Whiting Mayor Joe Stahura called INDOT's announcement a creative solution on Thursday afternoon but had yet to look over the entire plan.
"If they are not going to redo the roads in Whiting that are taking a pounding, it'll put me in a really bad position," Stahura said. He wants additional work to be done on Indianapolis Boulevard and 129th Street.
Work will begin this summer with the rehabilitation of the westbound ramp from Riley to Cline Avenue. Temporary ramps also will be constructed to allow both eastbound and westbound traffic from Cline Avenue to exit onto Michigan Avenue.
The mainline Cline Avenue near Riley Road is set for demolition between this fall and 2011. The work will pave way for a new exit ramp from Cline Avenue to Riley Road. The remaining sections of the bridge are scheduled for demolition between summer 2012 and 2013.
INDOT also wants to maintain a memorial to honor the highway construction workers who died during the bridge's initial construction. Cline Avenue from U.S. 12 to the Indiana Toll Road is known as the Highway Construction Workers Memorial Highway.
INDOT plans to remove most of the pillars that served as structural support to the Cline Avenue bridge. Some pillars, which reach up to 110 feet, potentially could be used for solar panels or as basis for the memorial.
"Everyone agrees this is quite the controversial issue," Zier said, "but it's something we can do immediately to get people working in May and working for the next 36 months. Not only that we can have this job complete in three years and put safety first."