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.y INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 4r 100 North Senate Avenue F" Room N755 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2228 Co, (317) 232-5533 FAX. (317) 232-023& 0�1,An Equal Opportunity Employer • http:t/www.state.in.us/dot JOSEPHE. KERNAN, Governor J; BRYANNICOL, Commissioner May 6, 2004 Mr. John Oxian Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph Counties 125 S. Lafayette Blvd. South Bend, IN 46628 Re: Des. No. 9901720, Project STP -230-1, SR 61 Bridge Replacement — Locust Road Over U.S. 20, 1.59 km East of S.R. 23, St. Joseph County Dear Mr. Oxian: The Indiana Department of Transportation intends to proceed with the aforementioned project. This letter is part of the early coordination phase of the environmental review process, in which we are requesting comments from your area of expertise regarding any possible environmental effects associated with this project. Please use the above designation number and description in your reply. We will incorporate your comments into a study of this project's environmental impacts. The primary need for improvement is based on the structure's substandard geometry, particularly the vertical clearance over US 20 and shoulder widths for both Locust Road and US 20. Also contributing to the need for replacement is the age of the 35 year old structure, the age and condition of the 16 year old overlay, areas of leaching along the bridge coping, and an area of exposed reinforcing steel on the underside of the concrete deck. The purpose of this project is to replace the existing functionally obsolete structure with one having contemporary, standard cross section elements and clearances. The project is located on Locust Road over US 20, .99 mile east of the intersection of US 20 with SR 23. It is located in Centre Township, St. Joseph County, south of South Bend. The existing horizontal alignment for this section of Locust Road is tangent within the anticipated project limits. The existing vertical alignment in the vicinity of the structure is in a 500' sag curve, a 500' crest vertical curve and a profile grade angular break without a vertical curve at the south end of a project. The posted speed limit is 35 mph for Locust Road in each direction. The apparent existing right-of-way along this section of Locust Rd. is 40'. Also, a 40' right-of-way corridor for Service Road No. 6 extends approximately 500' east of Locust Road in the northeast quadrant. The existing horizontal alignment for this section of US 20 is tangent in the vicinity of Locust Road. The existing vertical alignment for US 20 is a -0.46% grade in the vicinity of Locust Road. The posted speed limit is 55 mph for US 20 in each direction. The minimum existing right-of-way along this section of US 20 is 140', and the maximum is 280'. Land use in this area is primarily residential in all four quadrants in the immediate vicinity of the structure. St. Joseph County is home in places for federally endangered Indiana bats and the federally threatened Prarie White Fringed Orchid. No evidence of any of these was found in the project limits during the field check. A possible wetland area exists in the NE, NW, and SW quadrants, which are scheduled for delineation in June, 2004. This project is not located within the potential karst feature area of the state. The preferred alternate proposes the existing bridge be removed and replaced with a new bridge. The project will have a total length of 1850 feet. The maximum vertical rise will be north of the bridge where the grade will rise approximately 5 feet. The south and north approaches will be approximately 700 feet and 850 feet in length respectively. The proposed structure is a two span Continuous Composite Prestressed Precast Concrete Bulb -Tee Beam Bridge. The span lengths are 2 @ 92'. The clear roadway width on the bridge is 45'4". The proposed