Motorists traveling eastbound on State Road 46 into Columbus will get their first chance to travel over the new railroad overpass near State Road 11 beginning Friday, when construction crews plan to open the eastbound side of the new bridge over the Louisville and Indiana railroad tracks.
The estimated $35 million project, which is jointly funded by the Indiana Department of Transportation, city of Columbus, Bartholomew County, Cummins Inc. and the Louisville & Indiana and CSX railroads, will allow motorists to avoid being stopped by railroad traffic at the intersection of State Road 46 and State Road 11.
Construction crews from Milestone Contractors are expected to switch eastbound traffic on State Road 46 to its new configuration between 8 a.m. and noon Friday, weather permitting, the Indiana Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
Westbound traffic on State Road 46, however, will remain in its current pattern through mid-to-late July as workers continue to prepare the bridge and ramps for westbound traffic, INDOT said. Nathan Gaskill, Milestone project manager, said the westbound lane configuration should open to traffic in the next four to five weeks, depending on weather.
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“Most of this will be intuitive and pretty easy to follow,” said city engineer Dave Hayward. “One of the next changes will be for westbound traffic and that will be a larger change and a little bit more challenging for motorists.”
In addition, a quarter-mile stretch of State Road 11 between State Road 46 and Garden City will reopen Friday after being closed since June 1 so workers could tear out and replace the existing pavement and complete drainage work.
Lane restrictions that began in early May on the Third Street bridge also will be removed following a polymeric deck overlay, INDOT said.
“For somebody who has worked on this for four years now, it’s a big deal,” Hayward said. “We’re very pleased to be at this point.”
Contract work will continue near the new overpass through the rest of the summer and fall into next spring, INDOT said.
The project is now in the second of three phases, and is expected to be completed by late fall this year.
The first part of the second phase includes the work currently being completed on State Road 11, said INDOT spokeswoman Natalie Garrett.
During the second part of the phase, which is expected to start in early fall, eastbound State Road 46 will be reduced to one lane for around 50 days to “allow construction of various tie-in points between the existing roadway and new roadway,” Garrett said.
During the third phase of the project, which is projected to start in late fall, westbound State Road 46 will be reduced to one lane for about two months, according to INDOT.
The new alignment for both eastbound and westbound lanes of State Road 46 is expected to be open to traffic by the end of the year, with some additional work, including seeding and sodding, through spring and early summer 2021, Garrett said.
The contract completion date is June 2021.
The overpass project was developed in response to a projected increase in railroad traffic on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad tracks. INDOT has agreed to pick up half of the total cost, while the city, along with other partners, pick up the half of the tab.
The railroad has leased its tracks running through Columbus to CSX, which is expected to result in an increase in train traffic, train speed and delays at intersections involving rail crossings through the city, with the State Road 46/State Road 11 intersection expected to have the most delayed local traffic.
The city has partnered with Cummins, Bartholomew County and the Louisville & Indiana and CSX Railroads to defray around half of the local funding requirements in the interlocal agreement, city officials said.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held in November.
Approximately 31,200 tons of new asphalt and 4,600 tons of recycled asphalt will be used for the project, and about 460,000 cubic yards of dirt will be poured at the site — equaling around 50,000 truckloads, said Mark Thompson, vice president of Milestone Contractors, in a previous interview.
Currently, 40,000 motorists cross the railroad tracks at this intersection daily. To put it in perspective, an estimated 45,000 people live in Columbus, and 80,000 individuals live in Bartholomew County.
“This isn’t the completion of construction,” Hayward said. “There’s still a lot of construction that needs to take place and we ask motorists as they’re going through the area to obey the speed limits and watch for traffic changes and construction equipment and workers out there.”
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Visit columbusrailroadproject.org for more information about the project.
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