INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
The Indiana Department of Transportation accused a highway contractor of
using faulty asphalt and demanded the company replace a crumbling section of
highway or refund $5.15 million.
The agency in a
letter Friday to Fort Wayne-based Brooks Construction Co. gave the company
one week to commit to returning the cost of replacing three miles of the
Hoosier Heartland Highway near Logansport that was completed in 2012, The
Indianapolis Star reported.
The letter
represents the agency’s first action against a contractor since
acknowledging last week that it suspects as much as $71 million in faulty
asphalt was used in 188 projects across the state.
“Taxpayers in
Indiana deserve to get what they pay for from contractors serving the
state,” Gov. Mike Pence said in a statement.
Brooks Construction
co-owner John Brooks said the company followed the state’s specifications
for asphalt on the Hoosier Heartland project and that the asphalt repeatedly
passed state testing
“For more than 105
years, our family owned business has taken tremendous pride in both customer
service and the quality of our work,” Brooks said in an email to the Star.
“During this project, INDOT conducted 72 tests on our asphalt mix and all
were approved. We complied with all INDOT specifications at the time of the
construction.”
Some road
construction industry representatives have questioned whether new asphalt
specifications from the state are to blame for crumbling roadways, but state
officials have dismissed that notion.
INDOT said Brooks
Construction’s work on a four-lane stretch of the highway already is showing
signs of deterioration, including large patches of crumbling pavement and
cracks several inches wide. The pavement was supposed to last 20 years.
INDOT said the
asphalt pavement provided by Brooks was not consistent with the material the
company previously presented to INDOT in mix designs.
Brooks Construction
won the $16 million, federally funded state contract in May 2010 and
completed the work in 2012. INDOT officials said they’ve been in discussions
with the company about problems with the blacktop for the past 10 months.
The $5.15 million represents the cost of the asphalt.
“With this road
deteriorating at an alarming rate and with winter approaching, INDOT must
move to resolution on this matter,” INDOT Deputy Commissioner Robert Tally
wrote to Brooks.
Tally said the
company used stone that absorbs large amounts of a petroleum binder that
holds asphalt together, leaving too little to prevent the asphalt from
breaking apart.
Two top Republican
lawmakers said last week they were considering an independent investigation
into the asphalt issues.