HAMMOND │ The new Nine-Span Bridge remains on schedule to be open by the end of the year. The old bridge has been removed and concrete beams are in place on some of the spans for the new bridge.
“We will continue to set beams on the new spans over the next few weeks and will pour the decks this fall,” said Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Matt Deitchley.
Deitchley said the beams were made in Decatur and trucked to the site, typically one at a time on the back of a semi.
The old Nine-Span Bridge was rated in “poor” condition and underwent major repairs eight years ago. Some heavy trucks were banned from the bridge.
Dunnet Bay Construction, of Glendale Heights, Ill., began demolition work at the site in January. The company was awarded an $18 million contract for both the bridge’s demolition and the building of the new span.
Development under the Nine-Span Bridge is underway, with international fertilizer producer Potash Corp. building a $40 million transfer facility there.
The old 1930s-era Nine-Span Bridge was known as a truss bridge – a type of bridge that is slowly disappearing around the United States as they are no longer economical to build.
INDOT plans to save and store at least one section of the old bridge for possible future use as a trail bridge.
INDOT originally slated construction to start in 2009 on a replacement bridge but the date was pushed back to revise its design so it did not interfere with development in the Gibson Yard railroad tracks, according to state officials at the time.