By Keith Benman, Times of Northwest Indiana
keith.benman@nwi.com
The elevated portion of Cline Avenue -- which has been closed since Nov. 13 -- will remain closed permanently if an Indiana Department of Transportation recommendation is accepted.
INDOT Commissioner Michael Reed made the annoucement in a news release Monday, hours after INDOT Chief of Staff Bob Zier confirmed that the span wouldn't be repaired.
"Everyone at INDOT understands the impact of this decision on residents, commuters and tourists," Reed said in the news release. "However, the structural integrity of the bridge is in such a diminished state that any combination of repair or re-construction required to meet minimum safety requirements would cost in the tens of millions of dollars and offer a lifespan that would be a fraction of that justified by the investment."
Local officials, including the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce, were briefed on the matter this morning.
INDOT plans additional meetings with local officials to determine how to minimize disruptions to motorists. This will include traffic monitoring, a study that will recommend prioritized lists of short and long-term improvements to local streets and traffic enhancements to several streets and intersections.
These streets and intersections include: Dickey Road at the railroad crossing, Riley Road and 129th Street, 129th Street at Indianapolis Boulevard, Michigan Avenue at Dickey Road and U.S. 12 and Cline Avenue ramps that connect with ArcelorMittal.
INDOT also will identify the best options for replacing the bridge, which is part of a key industrial artery that leads to steel mills along the lake and the gaming emporiums of Majestic Star Casinos in Gary and Ameristar in East Chicago.
Reed said current detours will remain in place until a decision has been made on how to move forward. Westbound Cline Avenue traffic will take U.S. 12 west to Indianapolis Boulevard, then west to southbound Calumet Avenue. Eastbound traffic will take northbound Calumet Avenue to Indianapolis Boulevard, then east to U.S. 12 and back to Cline Avenue.
Lakeshore Chamber Executive Director David Ryan said his organization was told Monday morning in a conference call with Zier that the 1.25 mile Cline Avenue bridge will not be reopened or repaired.
During the conference call, Zier said the 30,000 vehicles per day using the elevated highway would not justify the expense of the replacement, Ryan said.
"But to not do anything with it at all?" Ryan told The Times. "I mean 30,000 cars is 30,000 cars. And the heavy truck traffic is the other use -- all the steel rolling out of there."
During the conference call, Zier said there would be a comment period, and a public hearing was being contemplated, Ryan said.
State Sen. Karen Tallian said she will demand a public hearing on the matter.
"I think someone is making very important decisions without any input from the people," the Ogden Dunes Democrat said. "To do this without a public hearing or not talking to any of the legislators from Northwest Indiana, do they think that's appropriate?"
The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority will be taking an active part in any discussions on Cline Avenue's future, especially as it pertains to the Marquette Greenway Plan for lakeshore development, said RDA Chairman Leigh Morris, who also serves as an INDOT deputy commissioner.
Contacted an hour after word of the bridge's demise began to spread, governor spokeswoman Jane Jankowski had no comment.
"I think it would be helpful for you to have a conversation with INDOT," Jankowski said.
The announcement comes one week after Gov. Mitch Daniels said he would accelerate the bridge's scheduled 2012 replacement with money available from his Major Moves Highway program.
Last month -- three days after the bridge was closed -- INDOT released a draft four-year transportation plan that called for spending $90 million on replacing the superstructure of the bridge, which is basically everything above the massive upright piers that hold it up.
That was slated to take place in 2012.
In November, INDOT officials closed the elevated section one week after the agency received a report from an engineering firm that asked for a ban on trucks weighing more than 18 tons, and to not allow any vehicles on the shoulders of the elevated road.
INDOT said it had closed the bridge as a precaution, based on the findings of the report. It said inspectors found the areas where the 70-foot-tall concrete and steel piers meet the horizontal deck supporting the road had sustained significant damage from corrosion.