INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The Indiana Department of Transportation put an asphalt plant owned by a Fort Wayne contractor on probation while it was building a state highway that the agency says is crumbling years earlier than expected.
The highway department wants Brooks Construction Co. to replace a 3-mile stretch of Indiana 25 near Logansport that was completed in 2012 or refund $5.15 million.
Agency spokesman Will Wingfield tells The Indianapolis Star (http://indy.st/1hfLXmd ) it found during 2011 that the company's portable plant in Logansport was mixing blacktop that didn't always meet specifications.
Wingfield says laboratory tests on the asphalt itself didn't reveal flaws until the project was complete.
Brooks Construction says it met all specifications and its asphalt passed 72 state tests during the project.
