The Washtenaw County Board of Road Commissioners recently held another informal “Ribbon-Cutting/ Dedication Ceremony,” this time to commemorate the completion of the second of two Whittaker Road Bridges that were replaced during this past construction season. Although the new bridge, located in Ypsilanti Township, was officially reopened to traffic on November 21, 2007, the brief ceremony could not be held until December 7, after the guardrails were installed and final restoration work was completed.
Eleven
participants attended the brief dedication held at 2:30 p.m. on the
non-motorized path that is adjacent to the new bridge. Members of
the Washtenaw County Road Commission in attendance were Road
Commissioners Wesley Prater (Chair); Fred Veigel
(Vice-Chair) and Dave Rutledge (Member), as well as Steve
Puuri, Managing Director, and Carrie Ryan,
Administrative Assistant. Local dignitaries at the ceremony
included Karen Lovejoy Roe, Washtenaw County Commissioner
(District 4); Brenda Stumbo, Ypsilanti Township Clerk; and
Larry Doe, Ypsilanti Township Treasurer. The group was
joined by Washtenaw County residents, Barbara Prater (wife
of Wesley Prater); and Angie Veigel (wife of Fred Veigel),
as well as Al McComb and Greg Marker with OHM, one of
the contractors on this project hired by the Ypsilanti Community
Utilities Authority (YCUA).
A full closure of the old Ypsilanti Township Whittaker Road Bridge over Paint Creek was imposed by the Road Commission on June 25, 2007. This closure was implemented to maintain safety within the construction zone throughout the replacement of the old structure.
The old bridge, built in 1933, carried a weight restriction of 25 tons – 32 tons – 39 tons (for I, II, III unit vehicles), and was listed in critical condition following a routine bridge inspection in June 2005. The old bridge deck was 28.2 feet wide and spanned 27.9 feet in length.
Based on the deteriorated state of the old bridge, in 2000, the Road Commission applied for funding to replace the aging structure through then-called “Critical Bridge Program,” which is administered by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). The grant award from MDOT was not approved until 2005, however, through the newly named “Local Bridge Program (LBP).” The total cost to replace the Ypsilanti Township Whittaker Road Bridge was $1.68 million; of which the Road Commission paid approximately $300,000 for construction, preliminary engineering, design and materials testing. The remaining funds were covered by the state-funded LBP grant.
The
project included the installation of a steel sheet cofferdam
enclosure, precast concrete bridge beams which were manufactured
and delivered to the site by StressCon in Bay City, foundation
micropiling construction, continuation of the non-motorized path
across the bridge, correction to the horizontal curve north of the
bridge, relocation of YCUA sanitary sewer and water main lines,
relocation of AT&T, Comcast, MichCon and Detroit Edison utilities
and restoration work.
The clear roadway width of the new bridge varies from 40-feet to 42.4-feet; that is, two lanes at 12-feet/each and two variable width paved shoulders (8-feet minimum). The non motorized path varies from 14-feet to 15.6-feet, for a total out-to-out deck width of 59.875-feet. The new bridge, which spans 41-feet over Paint Creek, is a concrete box beam structure with a concrete deck and tube style bridge rail; it can carry all legal highway loads.
In October, the Road Commission also completed the replacement of another Whittaker Road, this one located in Augusta Township. (Read more about the Augusta Township Whittaker Road Bridge.