The landscape of Hendricks County, Indiana is poised for an upgrade with plans to replace the aging Bridge No. 32-00189 that spans over Mud Creek on South Country Road 100 West. Announced by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and backed by Federal Highway Administration funds, the project aims to address and improve the existing infrastructure, making travel through this area smoother and more reliable for the local community.
According to a legal notice published by Hendricks County, the existing bridge will be substituted with a modern 109 foot long three-span continuous reinforced concrete slab bridge. The new design will increase the deck width to 28.5 feet, and incorporate enhanced safety features including new guardrails, milled and overlayed roadway transitions, and concrete bridge approaches. An increase in the profile grade of the bridge is set to raise the southern end by 0.27 foot, whereas the northern end will see a relatively minuscule elevation of 0.04 foot.
Additional aspects of the bridgework involve heightening the side slopes to a 3:1 ratio and implementing scour protection under the bridge with Class I and revetment riprap. In an effort to better manage storm water flow, two existing corrugated metal pipes near the bridge are scheduled for removal and will be replaced with a single 52 foot long, 24-inch diameter pipe that will reroute stormwater under the nearby access drive. The drive itself will be reconstructed to accommodate these changes.
For the sake of advancement, approximately 1.451 acres of permanent right-of-way and 0.53 acre of reacquired right-of-way have been requisitioned for the bridge construction and the V-ditch relocation. This undertaking, while extensive, is not expected to necessitate any temporary right-of-way. Despite the permanent impact on approximately 200 linear feet of Mud Creek and about 0.011 acre of Wetland A, INDOT and the FHWA concluded that this project qualifies as a Level 2 Categorical Exclusion. The reason being: no signifiant adverse impacts to the human or natural environment were identified in the environmental documentation associated with this project.
Community members looking ahead to the project can take comfort in INDOT's assurance that endangered species will not be affected by the construction.
