Chesterton Tribune

New county bridge opened over Kankakee

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On Thursday, June 20, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the opening of Porter County Bridge #23; County Road 500 East over the Kankakee River. The project involved removal and replacement of the bridge superstructure, removal and replacement of the bridge end bents, regrading and adding riprap to the bridge spill slopes and modifying the pier caps.

New reinforced concrete bridge approach slabs were also constructed and 270 feet of storm sewer pipe at the southeast corner of the bridge in Jasper County was replaced.

The shoulder was widened, new approach pavement was laid and new guardrails meeting current standards were installed.

As part of the overall project, 110 trees of various species were planted.

The new bridge is a three span, composite pre-stressed concrete I-beam structure and is approximately 203 feet in length. The longest span is 77 feet. With the original contract completion date of September 15, 2012, the bridge was completed 86 days ahead of schedule.

The project was ordered by the Porter County Board of Commissioners. The engineering design firm was DLZ. Beam, Longest and Neff was the construction inspection engineering firm. The contractor was Tonn and Blank Construction Company.

The total cost of the project was $2,013,800, with federal funds for the project totaling $1,584,000.

The Jasper County contribution to the project was $67,510. The remainder of the project was funded by Porter County.

 

Posted 6/29/2012