BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Five of the six collisions in the last decade with the 100th Street Bridge over US-131 happened since mid-January. MDOT officials say they're perplexed.
The height of the bridge hasn't changed since it opened in 1957: though it's lower than most statewide, this information has been public the last 61 years.
"It is one of the lower ones but it’s not the lowest: there are many in the state that are lower," said John Richard, MDOT communications representative for the Grand Region.
"It’s online, it’s in the trucker’s manual, it’s signed. The northbound side a little bit shorter at 14’1”, the southbound is 14’5”, so there’s plenty of room and it’s out there. All the information is out there, and that’s trucker 101 to know your load heights and know the bridge heights."
When FOX 17 asked MCM Disposal Driver Robb Lubbers how aware drivers must be of bridge heights, he said: "Constantly. You have to know what you’re hauling and you have to know if stuff is sticking out, and you have to be aware of the bridge heights so that those things don’t happen."
Thursday a truck driver carrying a heaping load of wood chips hit the bridge for the fifth time since Jan. 12, when coworkers hit the bridge twice that day carrying shipping containers. Richard says the bridge was in "pretty good shape" until it was hit this year, then MDOT removed damaged fascia beams. He adds they hope to replace 100th Street bridge by 2020, though they're still fundraising the roughly $10 million it'll cost.
This summer, Richard also says MDOT plans to re-open the westbound lane of traffic on the bridge itself, as traffic can only travel eastbound at the moment.
"I live just down the road," Steven Burkhardt told FOX 17. "This is terrible."
No injuries have been reported between the hits this year, just headaches for local drivers.
"I’m not able to even just drive over the overpass, I have to go up to 84th street to get over? That is ridiculous," said Burkhardt.
