State seeks $5M from contractor for faulty asphalt
The state is seeking to recoup more than $5 million from a contractor accused of using faulty asphalt on a road project state officials say began falling apart shortly after completion.
The Indiana Department of Transportation is demanding $5.15 million from Fort Wayne-based Brooks Construction Co. unless the company agrees to remove and replace three miles of the Hoosier Heartland Highway it completed in 2012, according to a letter INDOT sent to the company Friday.
It is the first time state transportation officials have taken action against a contractor since acknowledging last week that nearly 200 road projects may have been completed with bad asphalt, causing highways across the state to crumble years ahead of schedule.
Some road construction industry representatives have questioned whether the state's new asphalt specifications are to blame, but state officials have dismissed that notion.
INDOT probes $71M crumbling road mystery
INDOT says Brooks Construction's work on a four-lane stretch of the Hoosier Heartland roadway on Ind. 25 in Cass County near Logansport is already showing signs of rapid deterioration, including large patches of crumbling pavement and cracks several inches wide. The pavement was supposed to last 20 years.
"Taxpayers in Indiana deserve to get what they pay for from contractors serving the state," Gov. Mike Pence said in a statement. "With today's action, Hoosiers can be assured that our administration will hold those who do business with the state of Indiana strictly accountable for the products and services they agreed to provide."
John Brooks, an owner of Brooks Construction, said that his company followed the state's specifications for asphalt on the Hoosier Heartland project and that the asphalt repeatedly passed state testing.
"For more than 105 years, our family owned business has taken tremendous pride in both customer service and the quality of our work," Brooks said in an email. "During this project, INDOT conducted 72 tests on our asphalt mix and all were approved. We complied with all INDOT specifications at the time of the construction."
INDOT said it did not accept the asphalt pavement provided by Brooks because it was not consistent with the material the company previously presented to INDOT in mix designs.
"All it takes is one look at the road to see that the asphalt is failing," INDOT Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson said in a statement. "What was anticipated to last at least 20 years lasted about three."
Brooks Construction won the $16 million, federally funded state contract in May 2010 and completed the work in 2012. INDOT officials said they've been in discussions with the company about problems with the blacktop for the past 10 months. The $5.15 million INDOT is seeking to recoup represents the cost of the asphalt materials.
"With this road deteriorating at an alarming rate and with winter approaching, INDOT must move to resolution on this matter," INDOT Deputy Commissioner Robert Tally wrote to Brooks.
The letter gives the company until Friday to commit to replacing the road or returning $5.15 million to INDOT.
Lawmakers threaten investigation of broken roads
The demand letter represents the state's first enforcement action since The Star disclosed last week that INDOT had identified 188 projects across the state that it suspects contain up to $71 million in faulty asphalt.
INDOT has said it began finding "anomalies" in asphalt mixtures beginning in 2013. Since then, it has reviewed 852 recent projects, clearing 662 of them. Testing continues on the remaining projects, including others completed by Brooks.
In the case of the company's Hoosier Heartland project, Tally said the company used stone that absorbs large amounts of the gooey petroleum binder that holds asphalt together. As a result, there wasn't enough binder in the mix, causing the asphalt to break apart.
"They should have had a mix design that incorporated the right amount of binder for the kind of stones they used," he said.
The asphalt problems come at a time when Pence and state lawmakers are already grappling with how to pay for billions of dollars in road maintenance over the coming decades amid stagnating gas taxes.
Pence's opponents, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg, have blamed the governor for the crumbling asphalt and other infrastructure problems, including the unexpected shutdown of a bridge on Interstate 65 last month near Lafayette.
Even top Republicans responsible for transportation issues in the General Assembly have expressed doubts about whether contractors alone are to blame, given that more than 40 contractors are responsible for the 188 projects under scrutiny. Those lawmakers have threatened an independent investigation into the problem.
Some local highway officials and industry representatives have questioned whether INDOT's specifications – including an increase several years ago to the amount of recycled asphalt allowed in new mixes – might be playing a role in the asphalt problems.
INDOT, however, has said there's no correlation between the use of recycled asphalt and premature aging.
Star reporters Marisa Kwiatkowski, Chelsea Schneider and Jeff Swiatek contributed to this story.
Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.