COLUMBUS, Ind. — Construction crews from Milestone Contractors have continued to make progress on the railroad overpass and interchange project on Columbus’ west side to allow motorists to avoid being stopped by railroad traffic at the intersection of State Road 46 and State Road 11.
With the approaches to the new bridge over State Road 11 being paved last month and the grass planted on embankments earlier this year starting to poke through the soil, the project is starting to come together, said project manager Nathan Gaskill.
The estimated $35 million project is being jointly funded by the Indiana Department of Transportation, city of Columbus, Bartholomew County, Cummins Inc. and the Louisville & Indiana and CSX railroads.
“Everybody is kind of getting a feel for what it’s going to look like,” Gaskill said.
Over the past couple weeks, workers have poured the new bridge deck on the eastbound side of the new bridge over train tracks along State Road 11 and are preparing to place barrier walls on the bridge, which are designed to help prevent motorists from driving off the edge, Gaskill said.
However, Milestone is focusing much of its efforts on completing work on a quarter-mile stretch of State Road 11 between State Road 46 and Garden City, which has been closed since June 1 so workers could tear out and replace the existing pavement on State Road 11 and add new drainage structures, including some storm sewer upgrades.
So far, the construction work on State Road 11 has progressed on schedule, Gaskill said. The existing surface of State Road 11 has been removed and workers have completed the storm sewer work and started paving State Road 11 earlier this week.
“All of our focus is basically is to get it paved back and striped and opened back up to the public,” Gaskill said.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
