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Investigation of Construction Failure of the Riley Road Interchange Ramp, East Chicago, Indiana (NBSIR 82-2583)
Published
Author(s)
Nicholas J. Carino, Hai S. Lew, William C. Stone, R M. Chung
Abstract
On April 15, 1982, a portion of Ramp C of the Riley Road Interchange in East Chicago, Indiana collapsed during construction and resulted in the death of 13 workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requested the assistance of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) to carry out an investigation of the technical reason for the accident. On April 17, a team of structural engineers from NBS arrived at the accident site and initiated its study. In addition to an extensive field investigation, the team performed physical tests to characterize the behavior of various critical structural elements. In parallel with the testing, a detailed structural analysis was performed on the partially completed structure. The calculated forces in key components were compared with their expected strengths, from which the most likely cause of the failure was determined.
Carino, N.
, Lew, H.
, Stone, W.
and Chung, R.
(1982),
Investigation of Construction Failure of the Riley Road Interchange Ramp, East Chicago, Indiana (NBSIR 82-2583), NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NBS.IR.82-2593
(Accessed October 13, 2025)