Cline Avenue Bridge Disaster

Bridges Disasters Disasters 








State Road 912 (SR 912), known along its entire length as Cline Avenue, is a freeway north of the combined Interstate 80/I-94/U.S. Route 6 (I-80/I-94/US 6, Borman Expressway), and a local access road serving Griffith south of the Borman. The portion of Cline Avenue marked as SR 912 is 11.69 miles (18.81 km) long.

Cline Avenue Bridge Disaster
On April 15, 1982, part of a ramp under construction collapsed during concrete pouring operations near the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, killing fourteen highway workers and injuring eighteen more. In 1987, the state designated the route between US 12 and the Indiana Toll Road as the Highway Construction Workers Memorial Highway.

On December 28, 2009, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) closed the elevated bridge portion of Cline Avenue between Calumet and Michigan avenues, a distance of nearly 3.5 miles (5.6 km). Corrosion had severely weakened most elements of the bridge, including the bridge piers, concrete, beams and cables. The bridge has been torn down and will be replaced with a toll crossing. Similar cases of corrosion have been identified in other bridges across the country.
 More details