Repairs on the closed Sherman Minton Bridge are halfway complete, and officials say the job is running slightly ahead of schedule.
Crews are working 12 hours a day, seven days a week to fasten more steel to reinforce the bridge. The heavily traveled span along Interstate 64 was closed Sept. 9 after a crack was found in a steel support beam.
Greg Prince with the Indiana Department of Transportation says crews are currently reinforcing the exterior portion of the bridge’s load-bearing beams.
“Once that’s complete, then their attention will move into the inside of those tie girders, where the work is a little more complex due to the lateral bracing that’s underneath the bridge,” he said.
The contractor for the project says workers won’t meet a Jan. 27 deadline to secure a $1 million incentive offered by the Horseshoe Foundation.
The job is officially scheduled for completion on March 2.
(Information for this story also came from the Associated Press; file photo by Erica Peterson)