SR 57 Bridge Over the West Fork White River - Bridge Replacement

This project also required in-depth coordination with the US Fish and Wildlife Service due of the presence of the federally endangered Indiana Bat. After consulting with US Fish and Wildlife Service, American Structurepoint facilitated the preservation of a portion of the existing bridge structure and the preservation of approximately 10 acres of mature floodplain forest to help offset potential impacts to this species.

American Structurepoint was also responsible for the preparation of Section 401 and 404 Water Quality Permit Applications, IDNR Construction in a Floodway Permit Application, Rule 5 permitting, and mitigation design due to the impacts on identified water resources. In addition to the aforementioned floodplain forest preservation, our environmental engineers designed a one-acre forested wetland mitigation site, approximately 500 linear feet of stream mitigation, and an additional 9 acres of forested floodplain tree planting for this project. Our company was retained for environmental construction inspection through bridge construction, due to the sensitive ecological concerns on this project.

American Structurepoint also conducted hydraulic modeling for design and permitting of the new bridge structure. Extensive hydraulic modeling and documentation was required to properly size the new structure and meet the requirements for an Indiana DNR, Construction in a Floodway Permit. The hydraulic modeling solution involved a levee just downstream of the proposed structure, new roadway embankment, channel reshaping and providing a “bat island” to mitigate disturbances to the wildlife habitat. A combination of field survey and GIS topographic data were utilized in order to create the hydraulic model for the large floodplain. Scour analysis was also performed to ensure the proposed foundations would not be susceptible to undermining.