45th Street and Calumet Avenue Grade Separation

As a subconsultant to Robinson Engineering, Ltd., Lochner provided professional engineering services for the Calumet Avenue and 45th Avenue Grade Separation Project, which consisted of preliminary and final structural engineering and railroad engineering design services for two grade separation projects at Calumet Avenue and the Canadian National Railway (CN) and 45th Avenue and the Canadian National Railway, both located in Munster, IN.

Lochner also provided assistance with structural aspects of the Engineer’s Report and determination of structure size and type for the proposed structures at Calumet Avenue and 45th Avenue. Lochner performed structural engineering for the railroad bridge, tunnel, and associated retaining walls. The proposed Calumet Avenue bridge structure consists of 60-inch deep plate girders spanning approximately 90 feet with foundations supported on drilled shafts. The 45th Avenue structure consists of a cast-in-place tunnel.

This project required close coordination with CN, INDOT, the Town of Munster, as well as multiple other agencies. The project was further complicated as Calumet Avenue is to remain open during construction but will be shifted to an alternate alignment outside of the work area for the structure construction. Further, the CN requires that the two existing railroad tracks remain open during the project. Temporary shoofly track alignments make this possible.