A new review of the State Line Bridge is planned before plans to reopen the long-closed bridge over the Kankakee River move forward.

The Lake County Board of Commissioners is reviewing bids for another assessment of the bridge, the latest step in a project that’s been in the making for nearly a decade. The new assessment would reevaluate the state of the 220-foot Pennsylvania Thru truss bridge, which was built in the early 1900s.

Commissioner Michael Repay, D-Hammond, said further investigation is needed into what needs to be done with the bridge.

“We’re going to take another look at it,” Repay said.

Federal and state transportation officials asked for a new point-by-point inspection of the bridge and new specifications for the project, said Commissioner Jerry Tippy, R-Schererville.

“That’s what this is,” Tippy said.

Duane Alverson, the Lake County Highway Department engineer, said once the county gets the report back, he hopes all the groups involved can figure out the best way to get the project done.

The future of the State Line Bridge has been in the makings since 2010, when the county signed an agreement with state and federal officials.

As a part of that agreement, once one span over the Kankakee was complete, construction on a second bridge had to start within five years. Tippy said the county completed the Clay Street Bridge in 2015, and the second is required to start by 2020.

Alverson said the Kankakee Historical Society took the dismantled trusses from the Range Line Bridge and the new bridge was put in its place.

An engineering study and bid package had been prepared for the State Line Bridge, and when the Indiana Department of Transportation solicited bids, it only got one response.

That one bid for the bridge came in at a cost of $7.5 million, according to Tippy, and the anticipated budget was $1.8 million. Tippy said the bid was rejected in early 2018.

Lake County sought to amend the agreement for the bridge to be dismantled, preserved and moved to another location, Tippy said. The Federal Highway Administration rejected that request, Tippy said.

Alverson said the county sat down with state and federal transportation officials and historic preservation officials to see how to move forward. Alverson said said they decided to get a new study that would evaluate all parts of the bridge and determine whether it can be rehabbed, repaired or replaced.

That study would give a new engineering estimate for the cost of the project, he said. “That’s where we stand right now,” he said.