Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Indiana 49 closed north of US 20 by green, foul smelling ooze from asphalt

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By KEVIN NEVERS

Ind. 49 north of the U.S. Highway 20 interchange in Porter was closed late Tuesday afternoon--and will remain closed for at least another day--after the newly paved road surface began weeping a greenish ooze smelling strongly of sulfur.

That ooze is believed to be the product of a chemical reaction between the slag base used by INDOT, ground water, and the recent high temperatures.

Breathing the rotten-egg stench sent two first-responders to hospital on Tuesday for treatment of headache and nausea, and the propensity of some people to be made physically ill by the odor has prompted the Porter County Environmental Department to order Ind. 49 closed.

The ooze was first noticed shortly before 5 p.m., Porter Deputy Fire Chief Jay Craig told the Chesterton Tribune today, in the northbound lanes of Ind. 49 directly opposite South Bailey Drive. In perhaps 10 places along a 200-foot stretch of the fresh pavement a light green seepage resembling antifreeze was observed and in fact the first on the scene, a Porter Police officer, was responding to a report of an antifreeze leak.

That officer was subsequently transported to hospital complaining of headache and “a funny taste in the mouth,” Craig said.

Also transported was Porter Fire Chief Lewis Craig, who experienced shortness of breath and nausea after being exposed to the odor.

The officer and Chief Craig were both later released. The latter told the Tribune just before deadline that he’s feeling fine.

In the 12 hours or so after the seepage was first discovered, the stuff has been tenatively identified as ground water--or else runoff from recent rains--chemicallly reacting with the slag in the road base.

Slag is a leftover of the steelmaking process, produced when iron ore is reduced to molten iron. Allowed to cool, it “becomes a light gray vesicular rock,” according to the National Slag Association’s website, and is commonly use for road base, fill, and embankments, among other things.

Slag has become a particularly popular material in road construction here in Northwest Indiana, Craig said, and indeed the Indiana Department of Transportation touts its use on the agency’s website, as one of the “waste materials” it recycles in road construction and reconstruction projects “to save resources and cut costs.”

Craig noted that the past week’s heavy rains have very likely caused the water table beneath the affected stretch of Ind. 49 to rise much higher than it was when INDOT’s contractor first laid the slag base some months ago. Meanwhile, the brand-new blacktop has been absorbing the recent high temperatures and probably heating the ground water below. Those two factors are believed to be the cause of the chemical reaction. A similar incident is said to have occurred on I-65 “many years ago,” Craig said.

Last year the Chesterton Town Council amended Town Standards to permit developers for the first time to use slag--instead of more expensive limestone--as a road base. Municipal specifications, however, require the slag to be INDOT-certified, that is, washed and processed. Town staff had previously recommended against the use of slag due precisely to a strong odor which was sometimes known to waft through neighborhoods via storm sewers. Washed and processed slag is supposed to be odor-free.

Persons familiar with the use of slag in road construction told the Tribune this morning that it’s conceivable an improperly washed batch of slag ended up beneath the asphalt of Ind. 49. It’s also possible, though, that the slag is perfectly fine and some mineral or other substance in the ground water is just reacting with it.

Whatever the cause, the solution is going to be complicated. Today INDOT had retained the services of an environmental contractor to clean up and contain the seepage, which Craig said dries to a chalky or milky white color. A vacuum truck has been deployed to the scene.

Going forward, the idea will be to finish paving the two southbound lanes of Ind. 49 north of the U.S. 20 interchange as soon as possible so as to open one lane each to south- and northbound traffic. Then the whole affected stretch of the two northbound lanes will have to be ripped up and the road rebuilt using a limestone base, Craig said.

Also responding to the scene, at one time or another after the seepage was discovered, were the Chesterton PD, the Porter County hazmat team as well as the LaPorte County team, a ranger with the National Park Service, a conservation officer with the Department of Natural Resources, and Porter Regional Hospital EMS.

 

Posted 7/27/2016

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

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