East Delhi Road Bridge History

A bit of history...

The first East Delhi Road Bridge over the Huron River was built for horse and buggy traffic in the late 1800s; it was a one-lane, wrought iron truss bridge. A tornado destroyed the original bridge and a new crossing was built some time after 1917.  It is unsure exactly when the new bridge was built or what materials were used.  In 1942, a significant amount of structural repair work was completed to the truss, floor beams, and connections, as well as cleaning and repainting.  In 1969, the Washtenaw County Road Commission ordered eight hundred 2” x 4” x 18-ft. planks to replace the deck on the East Delhi Road Bridge.

Historic District Final Report
Additional Historical Information

More Recent History

Prior to the permanent closure of the East Delhi Road Bridge in June 2005, the Road Commission began applying to receive federal and state funding for its replacement in 1984, and reapplied in the subsequent years to follow until 2000 when the agency was finally approved for a grant through the Local Bridge Program (then referred to as the "Critical Bridge Program"), administered through the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).  Although this funding covers 95% of the construction costs to replace the bridge, it includes a "local match requirement" of 5% from the Road Commission and/or other local sources.

While awaiting for the funding approval, in 1987, the Road Commission obtained a permit from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to remove and replace damaged steel members as necessary and sandblast and repaint the steel truss bridge.  However, the heavy sandblasting had to be stopped due to a loss in the beams occurring during the cleaning process.  Light sandblasting was finally completed and steel plates were added to several beam members prior to repainting. 

In 1993, the Road Commission again addressed the bridge deterioration by replacing the wooden deck.  At this time, the weight restriction varied from 5 tons to 3 tons, based on the biennial bridge inspection.  It was also in 1995 that the bridge was inspected by Hess, Roice & Company, as part of the Michigan Historic Bridge Inventory for the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), and was determined to be "not eligible" for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places at that time.

Following the notification from MDOT in 2000 that the bridge was selected for funding, the Road Commission continued to perform short-term repairs to the bridge, such as attaching beam channels to the existing floor beams due to their significant deterioration and loss (2000), and installing steel running planks on the deck (2001). 

In that the conditions of the LBP funding required a 5% local match, plus the costs for preliminary engineering, design, material testing, etc. not covered by the grant, the Road Commission was unable to move forward with the bridge in time to meet the LBP funding deadline.  Thus, in 2004, the Road Commission requested and received a deadline extension for the funding, so that further progress could be made on the replacement of the East Delhi Road Bridge.

It was not until the fall of 2005, that the Road Commission received another letter from the Office of the SHPO, which had been requested to re-evaluate the bridge's historic significance. The letter dated September 21, 2005, reported that the bridge was re-evaluated for eligibility and listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and it was deemed eligible.  The SHPO letter further reported that the bridge met the criterion for listing in the Register based on the Determination of Eligibility (DOE), which revealed it to be "...one of the only few surviving late 19th century pin-connected Pratt through truss highway bridges of wrought iron construction in Michigan."

Detailed Timeline of Major Activities for the East Delhi Road Bridge