BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich.-- The 100th street bridge has made headlines throughout 2018 for all the wrong reasons. It's been hit nearly a dozen times since January and we've seen repair work there since.
The Michigan Department of Transportation came to the public Thursday night to ask for its opinion on a complete replacement.
The meeting was held at the Byron Township Town Hall and wrapped up around 6 p.m. but not before hearing opinions from community members who say no matter what, the result will impact truck drivers and neighborhoods surrounding the bridge.
Each time the bridge was hit there was investigation into what caused the accident and in some incidents police reports show truck drivers involved were unsure about the height of their load.
MDOT is now looking to do a complete replacement by 2020, asking the public for their opinion early in search of solutions they may not notice.
“It sounds to me like they already have the four lane one that’s 16 foot tall in mind and I’d just like to confirm up that the radius turns for all of the trucks are wide enough,” says Byron Township resident Stacy Peterson.
MDOT notes that the meeting helped point out problems like the one Peterson cited.
“Oh, I think it’s been real helpful because we’re at the early stages of designing this bridge. This is the end of the planning process and the beginning of the design, the engineering process. So, a lot of the concerns that they’ve expressed we haven’t even gotten into yet. So what you see on the map may be actually a little different when we actually get into building,” says MDOT region transportation planner Dennis Kent.
With this replacement MDOT is looking to give the bridge a clearance that meets current federal standards, which begin at a minimum of 16 feet 3 inches.
In the meeting, MDOT staff said the project may cost as much as $10 million but that they are taking all of the comments from Thursday night's meeting into consideration.
