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Rockville Road Bridge Over I-465 Opening Today
Rieth-Riley Construction finishes race to repair bridge

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and Rieth-Riley Construction waved checkered flags with Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles today at the Rockville Road bridge over I-465 as they celebrated finishing the race to rebuild the bridge deck. The bridge and interchange ramps are opening to a normal traffic pattern today.

INDOT Commissioner Joe McGuinness praised the workers that responded to the crash on Jan. 10 that destroyed part of the bridge and closed northbound I-465. Rieth-Riley and Crackers Demo crews responded immediately and worked through the night to remove the damaged bridge deck and open the interstate in less than 30 hours.

“The best in people is often on display in the case of unforeseen circumstances, and that was certainly true in response to the damage to the Rockville Road bridge over I-465,” INDOT Commissioner Joe McGuinness said. “INDOT and our partners at Rieth-Riley Construction have been working long hours to make repairs as quickly as possible. To rebuild a bridge - a project that might otherwise take as long as six months – in about six weeks is extraordinary. I’m thrilled to be able to fully reopen this major thoroughfare to west side motorists – just in time for a busy month of May!”

The Indianapolis 500 and associated events brings an increase in traffic to the area, especially on race day. Opening the bridge and interchange ramp as quickly as possible was a top priority for optimizing traffic flow and increasing public safety.

“INDOT and state and local law enforcement are key to providing safe traffic management support for events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and all over the State of Indiana,” IMS President Doug Boles said. “So when we learned of the damage to the Rockville Road bridge, IMS staff was confident that everyone would pull together to get this critical access point repaired and fully functioning quickly and in time for our busiest season. Rockville Road and the bridge over I-465 carried me to and from IMS on hundreds of occasions as I was growing up and we are all pleased it will be open for this May!”

To see a time-lapse video of the project from demolition to completion, go to https://youtu.be/XdM30iQ2q4g.

About the bridge damage

At about 8 a.m. on Jan. 10, a mobile car crusher on northbound I-465 crashed into the Rockville Road bridge and destroyed four of about 14 load-bearing girders. 

After closing the interstate and the overpass to secure the location and assess damage, INDOT engineers determined the damaged girders would be removed.  Rieth-Riley and Crackers mobilized immediately, working through the night to complete removal of the damaged beams and reopen the interstate at about 12:30 p.m. the next day, Jan. 11.

Since then, one lane of eastbound traffic on Rockville Road has been shifted across the median to share the undamaged westbound side of the bridge. The eastbound Rockville Road loop ramp to northbound I-465 has remained closed. 

Now that construction is complete, all traffic restrictions will end and traffic will return to a normal pattern at the interchange today.

About the project

The U.S. 36 / Rockville Road bridge over I-465 was rebuilt in 2009 as part of the Accelerate 465 corridor project. Existing bridge plans were used to quickly reproduce four replacement beams, each weighing about 70 tons and measuring 125 feet long, which were installed on Feb. 27.

INDOT used an existing bridge maintenance and repair contract with Rieth-Riley to complete construction as quickly as possible. The on-call, or job-order, contract is designed for high-priority bridge repairs that are beyond what can typically be performed by INDOT’s in-house maintenance crews. The pilot program was launched in early 2016 and is intended to reduce project delivery time and costs.

INDOT seeks reimbursement on behalf of taxpayers for damages to state property. INDOT is capturing and documenting all costs associated with the crash and repairs, which are expected to exceed $1.2 million. Reimbursement will take additional time as the damage to the Rockville Road bridge is more extensive than a typical INDOT claim.

Stay informed

Follow @INDOTEast on Twitter and follow INDOTEastCentral on Facebook and Instagram. The INDOT Traffic Management Center tweets about Indiana interstate traffic conditions @TrafficWise. Find links to all INDOT social media pages at http://bit.ly/INDOTsocial.

Subscribe to receive text and email alerts about INDOT projects and services at http://bit.ly/INDOTsubscription.

Motorists can learn about highway work zones and other traffic alerts at indot.carsprogram.org, 1-800-261-ROAD (7623) or 511 from a mobile phone.

Customer Service
INDOT East Central District Office 
32 South Broadway
Greenfield, IN  46140
1-855-463-6848
eastcentralin@indot.in.gov

Media Contact
Nathan Riggs
317-467-3479
nriggs@indot.in.gov