Rockville Road Bridge Beams to be Installed Next Week
One lane of I-465 North open overnight with rolling slowdowns

Replacement U.S. 36/Rockville Road bridge beams are scheduled for delivery and installation early next week over I-465 on the west side of Indianapolis. Design plans from the 2009 construction of the bridge were used to quickly reproduce the four steel-reinforced, concrete girders damaged on Jan. 10.

Bridge section
removed

Installation may take up to two nights to complete. One lane of I-465 may be closed in each direction starting on or after 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27, depending upon weather and other factors. I-465 northbound may be reduced further to one lane after 8 p.m. each night.

Law enforcement will assist contractors with brief rolling closures while a large crane hoists the beams, each weighing about 70 tons and measuring 125 feet long. All I-465 travel lanes will be reopened before rush-hour traffic each morning.

Once all four are installed, crews must seal the beams, and install concrete forms and working platforms, before new concrete decking and railings may be poured. More accurate timelines for project completion will be provided as work progresses.

Night lane closures continue for demolition

Crews continue to selectively remove concrete and steel from the Rockville Road bridge to prepare it for new beams and partial reconstruction of the bridge deck.

Starting at 7 p.m. each night as weather and construction allow, crews will close two lanes of I-465 northbound and the far left lane of I-465 southbound. I-465 northbound may be reduced further to one lane starting each night at 10 p.m. All I-465 travel lanes will be reopened before rush-hour traffic each morning with temporary concrete barriers continuing to close the shoulders of I-465 near the bridge.

About the bridge damage and repairs

At about 8 a.m. on Jan. 10, a mobile car crusher crashed into the Rockville Road bridge and destroyed four of about 14 load-bearing girders over I-465 northbound.

Rockville Road eastbound is reduced to one lane and shifted across the median to share the undamaged westbound side of the bridge until repairs are completed. The eastbound Rockville Road loop ramp to northbound I-465 also remains closed.

The Indiana Department of Transportation has been using an existing bridge maintenance and repair contract with Rieth-Riley Construction to remove bridge damage and complete repairs as soon as possible. The on-call, or job-order, contract is designed for high-priority bridge repairs that are beyond what INDOT can typically perform in house. The pilot program was launched in early 2016 and is intended to reduce project delivery time and costs.

INDOT is capturing and documenting all costs associated with the crash and repairs for reimbursement. Reimbursement will take additional time as the damage to the Rockville Road bridge is more extensive than a typical INDOT claim.

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Motorists can learn about highway work zones and other traffic alerts at http://indot.carsprogram.org, 1-800-261-ROAD (7623) or 511 from a mobile phone.