Engineers recommend bridge be built on Lindberg
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 11/17/2009
Kevin Daly | Senior Photographer
sponsored by
One city official described Lindberg Road as having a “washboard effect,” but those days are likely numbered.
According to city engineer David Buck, an engineering report recommended a bridge on Lindberg that would span Celery Bog, a stretch of road that has been plagued with problems.
He said that during the widening construction on Lindberg which started in 2001, there were precautions taken to prevent settling over the wetland area, which has “compressible” soil.
“They added material to the top and compressed it to withstand the load,” he said. “That material basically gave way. They put too much weight too early and it failed.
“Pretty quickly after the opening, it started sagging,” he said.
Lindberg was re-paved in 2005 and workers again tried to resolve the settling problems.
“They added piles on a grid pattern six feet apart, then a two foot thick cap of fill material and one foot thick of asphalt,” Buck said. “But it wasn’t thick enough ... It draped over the top of the piles and made the washboard effect. It’s forming to the shape it’s sitting over.”
Buck said that each time another layer is added to the road, it’s just a quick fix.
“That additional weight increases the weight that contributes to settling,” he said. “The more weight we put on, the more we have to do overlays, but the bridge eliminates that.”
The initial work to widen Lindberg in 2001 cost just over $6 million, according to Buck, who added that the costs were split between federal dollars, covering about 80 percent of the cost, and local money, covering the remaining $1 million.
According to Buck, that $6 million was not wasted as not all of Lindberg is sinking.
“That included about a mile and a half of road,” he said. “There’s still a mile and a quarter that’s still good.”
The estimated cost for the bridge project, Buck said, is between $6.5 million and $7 million, which would be paid out of county cumulative bridge funds.
Buck also said there are environmental benefits to building a bridge.
“Now, the road acts as a dam between the north and south sides of the bog,” he said. “A bridge would get the roadway off of the water, allowing better habitat and water quality for the flora and fauna that are out there.”
According to Mayor John Dennis, the project is in a planning phase, with the engineering plan to be completed by 2010. He said bridge construction could start in 2011 and the bridge would then be done in 2012.
“We have some preliminary designs we’ve been rolling out,” he said. “It would be a two-lane bridge with a multi-use trail – a simplistic design.”
Dennis said building a bridge would be a “disruptive process,” but would be worthwhile in the end.
“Lindberg Road has had significant issues for many years and this is the best permanent solution,” he said. “There’s no way to build it without disrupting traffic in that area.”
According to Dennis, the city is to hold public meetings concerning the project.
Buck also said construction which would take U.S. 231 off of Northwestern Avenue by building a new highway west of Purdue would be occurring around the same time as the bridge construction. The new four-lane highway would go from U.S. 231 and River Road to U.S. 52 and McCormick Road, and according to Buck, would cross Lindberg west of McCormick. He said problems such as backups and detours would try to be avoided.