The Cline Avenue bridge will not be demolished until at least 2011, and building a new bridge or alternate road will take at least three to four years to complete, according to a top INDOT official.
Bob Zier, Indiana Department of Transportation chief of staff, scoped out that timeline Tuesday as he swung through the area to talk to transportation planners, businesses and mayors about the future of Cline Avenue. He started his day before the Transportation Policy Committee of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.
"If there is a need to rebuild that bridge at Cline Avenue that is what we will do," Zier said. "But it will not be the same structure; it will not be as high; it will not be as long."
The main meeting room at NIRPC headquarters in Portage was often tense, and there were several testy exchanges between Zier and committee members, who are mainly local city and town officials.
Zier left the door open to not replacing the bridge and instead coming up with some other solutions for speeding trucks in and out of steel mills and patrons to lakefront casinos. At one point, he said the region's Marquette Greenway Plan for lakefront development argues for eliminating Cline Avenue, or at least the bridge.
That brought a sharp rebuke from Gary Director of Planning Christopher Meyers.
Meyers said the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority has committed millions of dollars to developing the lakefront from Jeorse Park in East Chicago to Buffington Harbor in Gary. He said Cline Avenue remains a key part of that plan.
"Cline Avenue is the main artery connecting all of our lakefront communities," Meyers said.
NIRPC Commissioner and Griffith Councilman Stanley Dobosz told Zier even INDOT's assurances that short-term fixes such as new turn lanes and traffic lights can start this year are worrisome to local officials.
"Once you put all those improvements in place, you could say, 'Well, we don't need to rebuild Cline Avenue,' " Dobosz told Zier.
The Cline Avenue bridge over the Indiana Harbor and Shipping Canal has been closed since Nov. 13 after bridge inspectors discovered structural deficiencies in the 1.25-mile span. Two weeks ago, INDOT announced further inspections showed the bridge would have to be permanently closed and demolished.
A letter Zier sent last week to state Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, revealed INDOT has long had concerns with the bridge. Starting in 2003, it started inspecting the bridge every six months instead of the every other year as is the norm for state bridges. As recently as last spring, one pier required emergency repairs, and temporary steel supports were erected.
Ultimately, Northwest Indiana will determine what should be done to replace the Cline Avenue bridge, Zier said. He again pledged the $90 million set aside for an earlier Cline Avenue bridge replacement will be put toward any replacement, whether it be a bridge or another road.
INDOT already has talked some with steel companies and found that ArcelorMittal has expansive acreage it may be willing to part with for the right cause, Zier said. That along with the Marquette Plan and the building of a Cline Avenue replacement could create opportunities to "green up" the region, he said.
Zier on Tuesday also sought to tamp down any notion the Cline Avenue bridge was still usable. At NIRPC, he laid out an exact timetable of how and when the decision was made to shut it down for good.
"That bridge is falling apart from the inside out," Zier said. "It's what you can't see that is falling apart, and that's why that bridge has to come down."
INDOT wants you
-- to tell them what to do with Cline Avenue
When: Feb. 9, Tuesday
Time: 3:30 to 5 p.m. and 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Where: East Chicago Central High, 1100 W. Columbus Drive, East Chicago
The public also can submit comments via e-mail to laportedistrictcommunications@indot.in.gov
or via U.S. Postal Service by writing to:
INDOT LaPorte District
Communications Department -- Cline Avenue
315 E. Boyd Blvd., LaPorte, IN 46350
