While studying a map looking for public access to take pictures of some bridges (below right), I noticed there was no bridge over the Indiana Harbor Canal for what seemed like a major highway.
Note that the road map view shows IN-192 as dotted-lines across the canal. I have discovered a
video that confirms that a major highway was built in 1982 in East Chicago, IN, and then closed December 28, 2009. It was closed because "corrosion had severely weakened most elements of the bridge, including the bridge piers, concrete, beams and cables."
But building a bridge that did not last very long is not the major booboo documented by the video. The collapse of the bridge during construction, killing 12 workers, is the major booboo. The bridge was a relatively modern
post-tensioned, cast-concrete design. The cause of the collapse was that the concrete pads used at the base of the temporary scaffolding evidently did not contain rebar. The pads cracked, the scaffolding buckled, the bridge went down. But not all of the spans collapsed at once. The collapse of the later spans endangered the rescue workers that were already on the scene.
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Jeff Fleming, Nov 2018
[I believe the date is when he uploaded it, not when he took it.] |
The result of the investigation is that bridge designers are now supposed to be as careful with the design of the temporary supports needed when the concrete is poured as they are with the design of the bridge itself. I found it interesting that the reconstruction used pads made of huge timbers instead of concrete.
Since it was closed less than 7 years ago, I verified that the Bird's Eye View still shows it as intact. It was an impressive monument to stupidity/corruption/whatever. It was torn down in 2012, probably to reduce the visible embarrassment of failure and to get rid of an "attractive nuisance." Some parts used a
wrecking ball while other parts used
explosives.
I have noticed that Google now has a "3D" option which sometimes works. It allows me to get an "after" image.
On Bing's satellite view, if you turn off the label option, you can see the bridge is gone. But both Google and Bing road maps show the road to be intact. So if someone is planning a trip based on these maps, they could be in for a rude surprise.
1995 Art Gross Flickr view of Whiting from the overpass
1995 Art Gross Flickr of Cline from Dickey
1998 Art Gross Flickr of Dock Street under the overpass
2012 Art Gross Flickr of its demolition:
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2014 Art Gross Flickr of "end of the road"
Are they finally building a replacement bridge???
Doug Boyer
posted three photos with the comment: "
Cline ave bridge."
Darrin Liegel Looks like a 14000?
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safe_image for New Cline Avenue Bridge open to traffic [on 12/23/2020]
[The photo is of the toll gantry over the bridge's entrance.]
"The privately owned toll bridge spans 1.7 miles and rises 100 feet above the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal. Its made up of 29 cast-in-place concrete columns that support 685 post-tensioned concrete single-cell box girder segments. The two-lane bridge is expected to carry 10,000 vehicles daily. The project took almost three years from the start of construction, and cost United Bridge Partners over $100 million to build. The company will charge drivers of two-axle vehicles with an E-ZPass or I-Pass transponder $2.50, but is waiving all tolls through Jan. 31, and in February, charging transponder users $1."
[So I need to do a field trip this Winter.] |
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clineave
[This page also includes a time-lapse video of the construction.] |
Bridges & Tunnels by Sherman Cahal
posted five photos with the comment:
The modern Cline Avenue Bridge in northwest #Indiana stands on a corridor shaped by both tragedy and renewal. Its predecessor was tied to the 1982 construction collapse that killed fourteen workers, while the current span opened in 2020 after years of demolition, redesign, and reconstruction. Even with the new bridge in place, traces of that earlier history remain.
Scott M. Kozel: Well at 2 lanes it is smaller than the 4 and 6 lane approach freeway.
The best available figure puts the SR‑912 segment — which is effectively the bridge — at ~10,000 vehicles/day. IOW adequate at 2 lanes.
1980s: Back when the original Cline Avenue Bridge was part of the through‑industrial network feeding the steel mills, harbor terminals, and refinery traffic, volumes were several times higher.
Estimates from INDOT and regional planning documents in that era put the corridor in the 25,000–35,000 AADT range depending on year and segment.
That industrial base collapsed in the 1990s–2000s, and the traffic went with it
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