Thursday, October 2, 2014

I-64 Wabash River Bridge

Bridge Hunters has several good views of this bridge. I got a grab shot while crossing the bridge that indicates the depth of the girders and the flare over the piers. (Actually, I was trying to get a picture of the RR bridge, but later I was impressed by the size of the girders.)

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It was bad news to learn that the old steel truss bridges to the North and South of this bridge are no longer usable, but I was shocked to learn that this modern interstate bridge needs to be replaced. A 1985 flood caused an oxbow to be cutoff just north of this bridge and that cutoff increased the flow of the current on the Illinois side. That new flow is scouring the Illinois bank and destroying the I-64 bridge. Illinois has already paid $2.51 million for an emergency scour mitigation project on the piers. Illinois and Indiana are now working on an estimated $71 million project to replace the bridge. (CourierPress) Evidently Illinois tried to keep it a secret that the bridge was in trouble. (Navigator)

A link posted in May 2023 of a 2013 article: https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2013/07/01/i-64-bridges-over-wabash/44193688007/. According to some comments, it still hasn't been replaced.

1 comment:

  1. Illinois has posted a bid request in February of 2024 to replace the bridge completely.

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