The Washtenaw County Road Commission completed the installation and final restoration work on the Willow Road Culvert Replacement Project the week of September 10, 2007, with the official reopening of Willow Road taking place on Friday, September 14.
On July 18, 2007, the Road Commission
CLOSED the Willow Road Culvert over the Saline and
Bridgewater Drains, located between Michigan Avenue (US-12)
and Case Road, in Saline Township, due to the failed condition of
the large culvert. This culvert was one of seven short-span
bridges and culverts in Washtenaw County that the Road Commission
was forced to close immediately upon routine, biennial bridge
inspections, which revealed severe deterioration and structural
failure of the structures. The bridge inspector hired by the Road
Commission, Scott Civil Engineering of Grand Rapids,
Michigan, recommended that the Road Commission impose an immediate
closure of the Willow Road culvert for the safety of the motoring
public.
During the week of September 10, 2007, Road Commission Operations staff worked together with a hired contractor, to complete the installation of a new 84-inch diameter by 70-ft long culvert and backfilling to replace the deteriorated culvert on Willow Road; the old culvert was estimated to be about 50-60 years old.
At the time of the closing, the Willow Road culvert did not
carry a weight restriction. Prior to this inspection, the
structure was last inspected in 2005.
Although the Road Commission remains challenged with a financial shortfall, the Board of County Road Commissioners deems it essential to maintain and keep open to the motoring public Washtenaw County’s bridges, culverts and roadways. In that State and federal grant funding through the Local Bridge Program cannot be obtained for bridges or culverts under a span of 20-feet, the Board authorized the repair or replacement of as many of the seven structures as quickly as possible by allocating $800,000 from the Road Commission’s reserve discretionary funds. This allocation was officially approved by the Road Commissioners with the agency’s second quarter budget adjustments during their August 7, 2007 Board meeting.
The Willow Road culvert is the second closed structure to be
replaced thus far. In late August, an Operations crew also
replaced the Seven Mile Road Short-Span Bridge in Salem Township;
it was replaced with a 6-ft. wide by 40-ft long culvert.
The next closed structure scheduled for replacement is located on Case Road, also in Saline Township. Work is expected to begin and be completed during mid to late October on the Case Road culvert.
For more information and continual updates on these bridge replacement projects, visit the Road Commission website at www.wcroads.org.
Contacts
To obtain additional information on these bridge closures and replacements, contact Kelly Jones, Bridge Engineer, at (734) 327-6647, or via email at jonesk@wcroads.org.
For questions or further information on this press release, please contact Val Cooper, Public Information Officer, Washtenaw County Road Commission, at (734) 327-6675, or via email at cooperv@wcroads.org.