For about a year, a battle between man and muck has raged in southern St. Joseph County.

About 300-thousand yards of muck is being removed to make way for the construction of a new and improved U.S. 31 between South Bend and Plymouth.

“It’s some of the worst ground really to try and build a road on,” said INDOT Project Supervisor Myron Cohagan.

So far, northern Indiana’s road of the future seems to be colliding with a piece of the past: A heaping helping of Mother Nature’s jello (muck).

“Originally, back in the ice age, this was an actual river bed that run through here, and over time it’s drained itself out,” said Cohagan. The process left behind muck or peat. “It’s decomposing plant material over millions of years old.”

One patch of muck was so large—that removing it—was deemed too costly. It was decided that twin muck trestles (bridges) would be constructed to carry traffic over the spongy soil.

The massive structures continue to take shape in a St. Joseph County farm field. One will carry two lanes of northbound traffic, while the other will carry two lanes of southbound traffic.

Each of the spans measures about a quarter of a mile in length, although they’re not very high above the ground.

“Most bridges are high enough so cars can go underneath them or railroad cars can,” said Joshua Bingham of INDOT. “This is about six to eight feet in height just to go over the top of the mucky area.”

While the muck trestles rise just six to eight feet above the ground—they also stretch more than 100-feet below.

“Never, I never drove pilings that deep before,” said Cohagan. “Most of the piling in this section right where we’re at ran at about 130-feet in depth.”

The muck trestles should be completed sometime in December. The trestles are being built as part of a $27.4 million contract that also includes pre-grading work for the roadway itself between State Road 4 and U.S. 6.

The trestles are located east of the intersection of the current U.S. 31 and Shively Road.

It was in September of 2008 that officials broke ground on the U.S. 31 realignment project. Since that time, three bridges have been completed, and four more are in the works.