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Borman Expressway

The Frank Borman Expressway is an east-west highway in northwest portion of the U.S. state of Indiana, carrying Interstate 80, Interstate 94, and U.S. Highway 6, as well as a short section of U.S. Highway 41. The designation begins from the Illinois state line east to the Lake/Porter County Line, just east of the junction with the Indiana Toll Road. The Borman Expressway has been identified in federal transportation legislation as part of High Priority Corridor 18, Segment 27, making current and future construction projects on I-94 eligible for federal funding in association with extending Interstate 69 to the Texas/Mexico border.

The Borman Expressway is a major truck thoroughfare, providing a free alternative to the Indiana Toll Road/Chicago Skyway combination (Interstate 90) to the north. Originally constructed in segments starting in the 1950s, with its Illinois counterpart, the Kingery Expressway, reconstruction of the expressway began in 2004.

The Borman Expressway is named after Frank Borman, commander of the Apollo 8 space mission, who was born in Gary.

Route description

Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
Chicago, Illinois Detroit, Michigan

The designation of the expressway begins at the state line, where the Kingery Expressway becomes the Borman. It has interchanges with 11 roads, such as U.S. Route 41, Cline Avenue, and Interstate 65. At the Indiana Toll Road, Interstate 80 turns eastward. The highway after the Toll Road, now designated solely as Interstate 94, continues eastward towards Michigan City and Detroit. Detroit is the control city going eastward on Interstate 94, from the Indiana/Illinois border all the way through Michigan.

History

The expressway now known as the Borman was originally known as the Tri-State Highway, and construction of the expressway began in 1949. The designation went through the Kingery Expressway, and eventually linked with the Tri-State Tollway in Illinois. It was originally considered to be Indiana 420. U.S. 6 diverged at Calumet Avenue south, and ran on Calumet Avenue and Ridge Road.

At various times, the expressway was extended from Indianapolis Boulevard to Burr Street, then to Georgia Street east of Broadway, and eventually to the Toll Road. Some time after the enactment of the Interstate Highway System, the expressway was designated as I-80, 90, and 294, and the I-94 designation was applied to the Toll Road west of where the current interchange with the Borman was eventually built. The expressways were renumbered around 1965, to avoid the implication that through drivers must change roads to stay on I-90 or I-94, resulting in the Borman becoming I-80/94. U.S. 6 was extended to Ripley Street at that time, and I-294 was cut back to the Tri-State Tollway.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction of the Borman commenced in 2004. The reconstruction of both the Kingery and the Borman aim to reduce significantly the amounts of delays encountered on the highway. The reconstructed portion of the Borman is 8 lanes wide, with additional collector-distributor lanes between interchanges. Construction between the Illinois state line and Exit 11 (I-65 south ramp to Indianapolis) was completed in 2007. The Interstate 65 Interchange Modification Project will continue into 2009, including replacing the pavement of the Borman to Central Avenue.

The Borman and Cline Avenue State Route 912 interchange is a partial cloverleaf interchange. Two flyover ramps allow southbound Cline Avenue traffic to merge onto the eastbound Borman Expressway, and northbound Cline Avenue traffic to merge onto the westbound Borman. The remaining ramps utilize the cloverleaf design.

Flooding

On Saturday September 13th 2008 at approximately 9 am CDT, all lanes of the Borman Expressway in both directions at Kennedy avenue in Hammond Indiana were closed by the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Indiana State Patrol due to severe flooding from the Little Calumet River. A levee break reportedly caused a torrent of water from the river to cascade across all lanes to a depth of nearly 5 feet under the Kennedy avenue overpass. InDot reports that the expressway will remain shutdown in both directions until at least Wednesday September 17th 2008. Detours are posted using locally US 6 business, US 30 &, US 12/20, & the Indiana Toll Road/Chicago Skyway/I-90 (preferred truck route/interstate travel route). Flooding of this magnitude on the Borman is unprecedented.