Indiana Department of Transportation officials met with contractor representatives last week at the Seymour District offices to discuss plans for removing and replacing two Craig Township bridges on State Road 56 in Switzerland County.
Milestone was awarded INDOT’s $3,695,455 contract for building new State Road 56 bridges over Tucker Run — located 6 miles west of State Road 129; and over Green Valley Creek — located less than a mile west of the Tucker Run structure.
At the pre-construction meeting, the Columbus-based contractor provided tentative timelines for demolitions, construction and traffic restrictions that will impact motorists near Lamb.
Tucker Run Bridge
A 3-span concrete bulb-T bridge measuring 200 feet in length with nearly 33 feet of clear roadway side-to-side will be built one-half-at-a-time at Tucker Run. State Road 56 traffic will be controlled by temporary signals at either end of the construction site. Clearing should take place this month, but crew mobilization will not occur until mid-October when signals are activated. The new bridge is tentatively scheduled to open to traffic in November, 2019.
Green Valley Creek Bridge
Approximately 1,000 feet of new pavement will be put in place to realign State Road 56 for bridge construction just north of the current Green Valley Creek structure. By realigning the roadway, free-flow traffic can be maintained until it’s time to tie the new pavement into the existing State Road 56 route. At that time, a 14-day closure will be required to complete the connection.
Clearing for construction at Green Valley Creek is tentatively scheduled for October 1st. Utility relocations will occur until mid- to late-December. On January 7th, 2019, actual bridge building operations begin. State Road 56’s closure is slated for May 1st, 2019 — with scenic highway and its new bridge reopening May 15th.
This new State Road 56 bridge is a single span concrete I-beam structure measuring 68 feet in length and 30 feet side-to-side.
State Road 56’s traffic count is 2,257 vehicles per day.