For example, consider drawbridges. On December 7, 2012 the Detroit News reported that a $70 million MDOT program would commence the following April to replace 154 bearings, rebuild 4 miles of I-75, replace the Janes Road bridge, and repair the CSX and Wadsworth Road rail bridges in the area. Clearly, a new solution was needed. The cause, according to Michigan Highways, was construction loads at that location were too heavy. A Saginaw News article from 1967 details another freighters crash into the bridge, causing traffic to be re-routed for a few days. girder picks up the segments from the truck and delivers them to the location Its like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. The segment of freeway utilizing the Zilwaukee Bridge is part of I-75 and US23. MDOT closed the northbound lanes months longer than planned as a precaution and installed a steel brace on the outside of the massive concrete span that carries Interstate 75 traffic over the Saginaw River. completely cured, the expoxy is stronger than the concrete segments which The entire segment instantly sank five feet lower than the section they were attempting to attach it to. When the balanced group of four segments is in place, a segment is again While the remaining ramp connections were Repair work began in the early summer of 1983 and totaled around $6.8 million. as the construction proceeds. Posted July 9, 2019, by Melissa Brand-Welch, National Bridge Inventory 2021: (Nearby Bridges), Bridgehunter.com: Historic Bridges of the United States, http://bridgehunter.com/mi/saginaw/saginaw-river/, July 9, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch, November 13, 2018: New photo from Douglas Butler, October 6, 2018: New photos from Douglas Butler, August 6, 2014: New Street View added by Douglas Butler. Crews removed some of the concrete material making up the bridge itself and removed the original bearings, then installed the new ones along with an inch of concrete grout. other ideas had been batted around, including a tunnel under the river It wasnt until 1987 that the final piece of concrete would be installed, and the northbound lanes of I-75/US-23 were routed over the bridge just before Christmas in 1987. in the early-1980s which added many millions to the cost and years to the 10. However, the most significant reason was the overloading of the expansion joint. dangerousroads.org is not responsible for the information contained in these pages. following pages reproduce a 1987 report issued by the Michigan of the unfinished ramps crossed a buried landfill contaminated with PCBs. Instead, a chemical compound called calcium magnesium acetate is used as an alternative. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022). Investigators found that much of the bridge was sound, but some of the pier columns needed to be reinforced before work could continue. to meet back up with US-23 (present-day M-13) The . built in western Europe and have been found to be generally more economical The original bid for the project was $76.8 million. concerns and painting costs with steel bridges. It was the only stop on I-75 from southern Florida to the northern tip of Michigan. Zilwaukee Bridge: From the Beginning. The bridge carries the I-75 / US 23 road. Detroit Free Press noted "Containing and removing the toxic There are some things that were really exciting for us as kids, but which are pretty annoying as adults. This high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River is said to be the perfect example on how not to build a bridge. When two adjacent Of The Zilwaukee Bridge along Interstate 75 over the Saginaw River. On example of a common but not simple auction is when the opponents compete vs. our 1NT Semi-Forcing bid. beginning at the existing route (Dixie Hwy) in Bridgeport, continuing northerly The hauler, based in Zilwaukee, transports auto parts and agriculture products. When the bridge opened for river traffic, it sometimes caused miles-long traffic jams, especially during heavy travel days around the holidays and the start of firearms deer hunting season. The four-lane, bascule bridge (or drawbridge) opened in 1960. River at the border of Washington and Oregon, opened in 1982, and the new The Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. It was opened in 1988 and is 8,000 feet (2440 m) long and 125 feet (38 m) at its highest point. The main strength of the bridge comes from its 4,000 miles of steel tension cables hidden away in the concrete. Idahosa noted that aside helping to reduce to the barest minimum the number of deaths at that portion of the highway, construction of a pedestrian bridge there would also help reduce the number of . major holiday weekends and during the fall hunting season. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. However, the size of interstate traffic was simply not appropriate for a small citynor did many drivers want to slow down on their way north to rural areas or south to Detroit. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. project later in the decade. The segments are erected by a massive piece of machinery called a launching The Michigan Department of Transportation says it will close two lanes of traffic on the I-75 Zilwaukee Bridge tomorrow and Thursday. A December 1979 article in the Owosso Argus-Press noted in 1968, a City of Bay City official stated "the bridge even caused a 56-mile long traffic jam.". Support MLive.com. MDOT has concluded no one was at fault and blamed three-decade-old as built drawings that didnt show where the steel was located as the problem. At Zilwaukee, The bridge was built segment by segment, working from one end of the river toward the other side. (AP Photo/Michael Hollenbeck/The Saginaw News. filled with cement grout under high pressure. act as a continuous bridge. However, the bridge caused long traffic jams whenever it opened, so local officials commissioned an alternative. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a massive segmental concrete bridge that carries the I-75 over the Saginaw River in Michigan. through downtown via US-10 and US-23. The Zilwaukee Bridge is one of the few, if not the only, bridge in Michigan that doesn't use salt to de-ice the roadway, an MDOT official said. Aerial map of Zilwaukee Bridges by Chris Bessert/Michigan Highways. It helps prevent water and roadway contaminants One place where this really became an issue was in the town of Zilwaukee, Michigan in the US. In May of 1987, the Michigan The newly developed concept of interstate highways changed the way that people moved around and brought more commuters through the region on their way from Detroit to the Upper and Lower Peninsula-connecting Mackinac Bridge. It caused serious damage. Really makes me wonder - if that was a seriously considered plan, what happened? Were talking about, of course, the Zilwaukee Bridge. In the early-1950s, the Michigan State Highway Department constructed a The Zilwaukee Bridge exists as an alternative to the federal governments original I-75 design. This technology has gained rapid acceptance and has spread to other countries. As a child, watching the bridge open and close was pretty cool, but when you're an adult, running late for work and stuck in traffic, the magic is kind of lost. It needs to hold up about another 50 to 60 years considering it could take roughly $1 billion to replace it. In the 1980's, Toebe completed a number of large . On Saturday, the bridge has three southbound lanes, while northbound traffic. stronger than that usually specified by MDOT for bridge decks. fabrication of the segments. In a recent e-mail to staffers, Kahn said he was concerned that this is a potential recurring construction mistake, recurring unnecessary costs and delays, and potentially dangerous at projects statewide. The grout cures to become However, due to the accident and its subsequent repair work, construction the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee. Boat traffic was also backed up on the river, as shipping traffic quadrupled in the years after the bridge opened. The southbound side opened the next summer. This was done because the truck and trailer wouldnt have enough space to turn around. It was projected to reach completion in 1983 at a cost of $77 million. From MDOT: New guidelines recommend early, aggressive treatment for childhood obesity, Deaf student's Michigan lawsuit at center of Supreme Court case, Michigan secretary of state outlines policy hopes for legislative session, State survey: UP wolf population stable, may have reached capacity, Michigan to begin distributing $81 million opioid settlement money, How an 'anti-planner' helps artist with ADHD get stuff done, Price tag for keeping the Zilwaukee Bridge clear of ice and snow, I-75 North will continue across the bridge, I-75 South will shift onto I-75 northbound lanes and over the bridge. In the 1950s, Michigan expanded its transportation system expanding north from Saginaw and through Zilwaukee. The ships captain suffered minor injuries. The bridge has twin decks built of a series of high-strength reinforced concrete segments held together by thousands of firmly tensioned steel cables. in an MDOT-produced publication from the early-1990s: The fixed to the opposite end. Almost exactly nine months later, the southbound side of the In April 2008, a scheduled $3.3-million construction project to replace bridge bearingsdesigned to support up to 8,000,000 pounds eachwhich allow the bridge to move as much as a foot hit a snag. The immediate response to the accident was to halt construction and investigate the extent of the damage. It was time to start assembling the concrete segments of the bridge surface. Work started in 1979 and was supposed to finish in 1983. We want your experiences too! The current eight-lane structure, completed in 1988, is the second such bridge at this location, replacing . with many steel cables to form the decks.]. The so-called balanced cantilever construction went way out of balance. Six steps were required to bring the tilted 300-foot deck section back to its intened position. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a high-level bridge carrying I-75 (and U.S. 23) over the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee. The 4-lane highway crossed the Saginaw River as a draw bridge. The largest segments It was actually a four-lane draw bridge and a freeway beginning at the northern end of the. A 1,700-ton launching girder atop the bridge is equipped with a crane that takes the segment and puts it into place. In 1979, with its Joint Venture partner Stevin Construction, Toebe won the contract to construct the Zilwaukee Bridge near Saginaw, Michigan. since the bridges construction in the 1980s, the agency has used two spans of the bridge simultaneously. girder. This only after During bridge maintenance, I-675 is used as a detour route for traffic. These joints have to be kept perfectly immobile during construction, so they are filled with temporary blocks held in place with steel tendons. The bridge also features a massive tie-down block that spans 57 x 46 x 5-1/2 feet and weighs about 1,100 tons. inch in diameter. 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