State: Cline Avenue bridge in Lake County won't be rebuilt

HAMMOND | The condemned span of the Cline Avenue bridge will not be rebuilt, Indiana Department of Transportation officials said Thursday afternoon during a news conference at the Calumet Conference Center.

Instead, state officials said the plan would demolish an elevated span -- between Michigan Avenue and Calumet Avenue -- which was permanently closed to vehicles on Dec. 28. A combination of Dickey Road, Riley Road and Michigan Avenue would be used to route traffic across the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal and back to Cline Avenue.

INDOT chief of staff Bob Zier said officials don't want a disaster like the 2007 collapse of Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minn., that killed 13 people and injured 145.

No cost was immediately revealed for the state project, but Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. and South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Speros Batistatos said state officials said the plan would cost between $75 million to $100 million.

INDOT pitched a sneak preview of the plan Thursday morning to local politicians and business leaders at Ameristar Casino in East Chicago.

According to the plan, beginning this summer work would begin to :

-- Rehabilitate the westbound ramp from Riley Road to Cline Avenue.

-- Allow alternating one-way traffic, controlled by traffic signals, to enter and exit Cline Avenue at Riley Road.

-- Build temporary ramps.

-- Allow both eastbound and westbound Cline Avenue to exit onto Michigan Avenue.

Between fall 2010 and fall 2011, crews would:

-- Demolish the Cline Avenue mainline span and ramps near Riley Road to make way for new exit ramp from Cline Avenue to Riley Road

-- Remove the alternating traffic pattern upon completion.

Between summer 2011 and summer 2012, crews would:

-- Construct a four-lane ramp to provide access to Dickey Road from Cline Avenue and exit from Dickey Road to Cline Avenue east.

Between summer 2012 and summer 2013, crews would:

-- Demolish remaining sections of Cline Avenue bridge over Indiana Harbor Canal.

Those who attended the Ameristar Casino meeting deferred to INDOT for the specifics, but voiced their opinions on what they heard.

"We can put my workers to work in two months as opposed to throwing the dice and waiting on another governor," said Randy Palmateer, the business manager for the Northwest Indiana Building Trades Council and a supporter of the INDOT plan. "There would be a gamble on how long people would have to wait if they shot the proposed plan down."

Among the detractors, State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, opposed the plan, saying it could hurt Northwest Indiana business, and ultimately the state. Hammond's McDermott called the plan a "disgrace."

On Dec. 28, INDOT officials said the stretch of Cline Avenue between Michigan Avenue and Calumet Avenue would not reopen to traffic amid concerns about the span's structural integrity. The bridge span was closed temporarily Nov. 13 after inspections and consulting with engineers found structural deficiencies.

After the permanent closure was announced, a group of region mayors, businesses and unions lobbied the state to rebuild the 1.2-mile span.