For decades, folks along the Kankakee River had watched logjams pile up at the State Line Bridge. Now it’s going to be the bridge itself rather than the debris at its base that will be removed.
The 1926 bridge, which was decommissioned years ago, isn’t easily accessible to people, though it is to debris.
The Kankakee River Basin and Yellow River Basin Development Commission received the final federal permit Friday for the long-awaited bridge removal.
The $2.5 million project is expected to begin this fall and be completed by December.
Removing the bridge involved using two cranes, one on each side of the river, to walk it off from where it stands. The bridge will be dismantled and its pieces labeled before it’s put in storage in preparation for the eventual day when someone can reassemble the bridge in a place where it doesn’t obstruct navigation and floodwaters.
“The bridge has some historic qualities, and we will fully respect those,” Executive Director Scott Pelath said in a news release. “This is not a salvage operation. We will take it apart piece by piece and safeguard the pieces for a community or organization that might want to reconstruct this piece of historic engineering.”
Butler, Fairman and Seufert, a Merrillville-based engineering firm, developed the plan to remove the bridge using two cranes atop a temporary river causeway. In June, the commission selected F.H. Paschen to remove the structure. The commission has fully budgeted for the project, Pelath said.
The commission was created in 2019. Ever since, removal of State Line Bridge has been a top priority, Pelath said. It’s not the only bridge targeted by the commission, but it’s an example of a bridge that sits so low above the river that it continually traps heavy debris.
What sets State Line Bridge apart from others is its location.
“The problem isn’t just that the bridge traps debris and blocks floodwater,” Pelath said. “The bigger dilemma is that because of the bridge’s location, it is impossible to remove the obstructions in the middle of a flood – right when you most need the water to move.”
Commission Chair John McNamara is a retired St. Joseph County surveyor.
“I was chair of a previous Kankakee commission way back in the late 1970s, and we dreamed of removing the thing even then,” he said. “The bridge has been closed for almost thirty years, and it holds up high water every flood season.”
“This is a momentous day. The next big day will come when two cranes walk it off the river,” McNamara said.
Newton County Commissioner and local farmer Rob Churchill strongly agreed.
“Farmers like me have been worrying about this bridge as long as I can remember,” Churchill said. “The snow will melt, the rain will come, and we think about our drainage running into tons of steel. The bridge’s removal will be huge for farmers.”
Pelath credited U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff and Indiana officials with helping the commission finalize a preservation agreement that protects the bridge’s historic value while allowing the flood-control project to proceed this year.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
More Top Picks Best Arch Support Insoles For Flat Feet