Start 9 (tie): Borman Expressway
Cost: $300 million

As originally built in the 1950s, the Borman Expressway in northwest Indiana featured two lanes in either direction and was widened an additional lane in each direction for a total of six in the mid 1970s.

But incredibly, the original pavement - now more than four decades old - has remained.

A reconstruction project will remove and replace the pavement, as well as the signage, lighting and drainage, said Greg Kicinski, design-build project engineer with the Indiana Department of Transportation in Indianapolis. The project will produce a new 15-in.-thick plain concrete pavement and will widen the expressway from three to four lanes in each direction, with a fifth, continuous auxiliary lane, for entering and exiting.

Lasts Until 2008

The project as a whole will extend from 2003 to 2008, but the current work is the most challenging component of the project, Kicinski said.

Three contracts are under way this summer.

The first is a $55.3 million contract let in August for the 3.5 mi. of expressway from Calumet Avenue to State Road 912, which is also known as Pine Avenue. Gary-based Reith-Riley Construction is removing and replacing pavement, retaining walls, noise barriers and four bridge structures in work slated to finish by winter.

The second, let in December to the Gary-based Superior Construction/E & B Paving Joint Venture for $21.5 million, is for the reconstruction of the Grant Street and Broadway interchanges, expected to be complete by November.

In May, another contract for approximately $60 million was let for work along a 5-mi. section from Route 912 to just west of Interstate 65 that will be finished next year.

"That will get the bulk of the main line work done," Kicinski said.

The next major phase will be the reconstruction of the Interstate 80/I-65 interchange, budgeted at $130 million, which is expected to start in fall 2006 and continue through 2007 into 2008.

The most challenging aspect of the current work is maintaining three lanes in each direction as work proceeds. The segment being handled by Reith-Riley carries about 165,000 vehicles daily, about 40 percent of them trucks.

"Because of lack of alternate routes, we had to maintain three lanes in each direction," Kicinski said, adding that temporary widening of the roadway and splitting the project into three phases has allowed those lanes to stay open. "They're working basically 24-7 to get it done this season."

Return to Top of 2004 list