Bridge work set near mall

Get ready to rethink your route if you plan to see a movie, run a few errands or do some shopping at the Greenwood Park Mall and typically take Madison Avenue.

The Indiana Department of Transportation has announced a $1.2 million project to demolish and rebuild the bridge section of Madison Avenue just east of the Greenwood Park Mall between County Line and Fry roads.

The project will begin the week of March 14, with the new bridge scheduled to be complete by Sept. 30, according to a news release from INDOT. Signs will be posted on March 1 to notify motorists of the upcoming construction that will follow two weeks later, according to the release.

“The bridge is worn out,” INDOT spokesperson Harry Maginity said. “This project has been in the works for some time. We’ll prepare motorists. Signs and lane markings will make it pretty obvious how to navigate through this. People will either have to travel Madison Avenue or they’ll take other ways around this.”

And motorists won’t be the only people affected by this work. Nearby businesses along Madison Avenue will have to endure about six months of traffic congestion and the potential risk of customers who may not want to deal with the hassle of construction.

Domino’s Pizza, located in a shopping center just south of the bridge, has as many as 14 delivery drivers working at a time on the weekends, store manager Aaron Willoughby said. With construction ongoing and traffic reduced to one north and south lane for about six months, delivering pizzas to certain addresses to the north and northeast of the store might add a few more minutes to the delivery time, Willoughby said.

“That’s going to impact our situation quite a bit,” Willoughby said.

Employees at the store likely will inform customers of the delay and construction situation on the phone when they call to place an order for delivery or takeout, Willoughby said.

Shutt-Lookabill, an Indianapolis-based bridge builder, will demolish the current bridge and build the new structure one side of the road at a time. Crews will demolish the east side, or northbound lanes, of the bridge first. Traffic will shift to the west side, or southbound lanes, in one direction each way while crews build the new structure on the opposite side of the road.

After construction of the northbound lanes is complete, traffic will shift again, to the newly completed lanes, while crews demolish and rebuild the southbound lanes, according to the news release.

The Federal Highway Administration is funding 80 percent of the total cost and Johnson County will cover the other 20 percent.

The 71-foot long bridge will have new rails, sidewalks and concrete, rather than asphalt, according to the news release.