INDIANAPOLIS | A Gary construction firm may lose its ability to bid on state transportation projects due to its role in the construction of the now-shuttered Martin Luther King Drive bridge over the Borman Expressway in Gary.

The Indiana Department of Transportation has asked its Prequalification Committee to prohibit Superior Construction Co. from bidding on INDOT projects for one year. At a meeting Thursday the committee postponed a vote on the request until its Oct. 7 session.

Superior Construction was the prime contractor for the King Drive bridge. INDOT ordered the six-year-old bridge closed on May 19 after inspectors found cracking in the bridge's concrete beams. The transportation agency is also seeking a one-year bidding ban for Indianapolis-based RQAW Corp., the designer of the King Drive bridge.

INDOT Spokesman Will Wingfield said the definitive cause of the cracking has not yet been determined. But the agency wanted to move ahead with its prequalification hearing to review Superior's and RQAW's performance as INDOT contractors and "make decisions about at what level do we want to do business with those companies going forward," Wingfield said.

A call for comment to Superior officials was not returned Friday. The company is a frequent contractor for INDOT and was awarded the 2009 Construction Advancement Foundation's Public Works Project of the Year for its work rebuilding the Interstate 65/Borman Expressway interchange on behalf of INDOT.

Wingfield said INDOT plans to work with Superior and RQAW over the next month to reach some kind of resolution for replacing the King Drive bridge. 

"INDOT's ideal situation would be we find a solution that doesn't require taxpayers to pay for this bridge twice," Wingfield said. "That's our end goal."