Thursday morning, INDOT hosted a bridge dedication ceremony on U.S. 31 over the Elkhart Western Railroad between Plymouth and Argos.
The bridge was dedicated to Owen Abbott, who was killed at the age of 13 in a school bus accident at the railroad crossing in December 2018. The school bus he was riding in on a field trip stopped at the crossing as required by law. While the bus was stopped, a northbound box truck failed to realize the bus was stopped and ran into the rear of the bus, and the overhead rack penetrated the bus, killing Abbott and injuring several other Winamac 8th graders.
The bridge will make U.S. 31 much safer as buses and some semis will no longer have to stop at the railroad crossing. The two-year construction project cost $29 million and raised U.S. 31 25 feet over the railroad tracks.
The construction project isn’t quite complete on U.S. 31. Lane restrictions are still in place, but the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of May or early June.
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