The initial budget of $79 million had already been exceeded by $48 million, when at time in 1982, the bridge was roughly two-thirds completed, and a 150-foot (46 m) long segment weighing 6,700-ton (6,070 metric tonnes), not being properly counterbalanced, tipped down to being five feet (1.5 m) out of alignment, with the other end rising 3.5 feet (1.1 m). Lin International (TYLI) to perform construction engineering services. new eastern bypass of Saginaw for through US-23 traffic, It also damaged the pier underneath. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. each cable is about the size of a man's wrist. However, let's step back in time to the genesis of the crossing Click here to take a moment and familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines. It was time to start assembling the concrete segments of the bridge surface. Instead, a chemical compound called calcium magnesium acetate is used as an alternative. of an epoxy resin makes the repaired area stronger than the concrete was a new contractor. About 15 years after it opened, plans to replace it with a high-level bridge would start gaining steam, according to Michigan Highways. is spread on both matching faces before they are brought together. You are still completely responsible for your decisions, your actions, and your safety. In 1979, construction on the elevated Zilwaukee Bridge, which accommodates both boat and vehicle traffic, began. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River in the U.S. state of Michigan. on the new structure commenced in late-1979 and was projected to cost approximately The river serves as the boundary between Zilwaukee Township and the city of Zilwaukee at this point, which is approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) north of downtown Saginaw. Some believe this Michigan bridge marks the start of Up North. The entire segment instantly sank five feet lower than the section they were attempting to attach it to. Zilwaukee Bridge: From the Beginning, Michigan 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. He's been with WDIV since 2013. Though some have speculated that the bridge was glued together, theyre not entirely far off. We had to wait in line. The original bid for the project was $76.8 million. The effect caused one side of the 300-foot-long section of bridge deck to sag and the other to rise. Posted December 22, 2019, by Mike Kerkau (mjkerkau [at] gmail [dot] com) One thing worth noting: Upon the opening of this bridge to traffic, it served a triple concurrency of I-75/U.S. TIL of Zilwaukee, a town in northern Michigan. on this website in its entirety for informational purposes and can be ZILWAUKEE State Sen. Roger N. Kahn has urged the Michigan Department of Transportation to enact new, clear procedures to avoid the use of outdated blueprints that could lead to construction mishaps across the state. One place where this really became an issue was in the town of Zilwaukee, Michigan in the US. polychorinated biphenyl will cost at least $100,000 and could delay completion In May of 1987, the Michigan With regard to the bridge itself, 154 bearings installed during the bridge's construction in the 1980s were replaced with new ones made of "a high-density plastic material" according to MDOT's Engineer of Bridge Field Services Matthew J. Chynoweth. of concrete was installed on the bridge and the northbound lanes of the I-75/US-23 freeway The Zilwauke Bridge is so high because it must allow boats to past. Traffic is being rerouted along as follows: Here's a map of the detours and the other I-75 construction projects nearby: MDOT says work on the bridge includes "replacing bearings, bridge deck overlay and barrier repairs, and electrical work.". Copyright 2022 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved. The original Zilwaukee Bridge as a four-lane draw bridge. The last one was cast in late 1986. The repair work added $500,000 to the $3.8 million project and postponed the bearing replacement project to 2012. Department of Transportation issued a report detailing the background 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. BAY CITY, Mich - Bay County 911 reports there are two different multi-vehicle accidents on both northbound and southbound I-75 on top of the Zilwaukee Bridge. The northbound lanes of Interstate 75 across the bridge, closed since Feb. 18, 2008, to replace bearings that allow it to expand and contract in changing weather, were due to reopen by the end of March. Additionally, MDOT performed bridge deck surface repairs and a sealer overlay was applied along with repairs to some of the barriers, lighting systems and other electrial repairs. But the $3.3 million project hit some road blocks in March, forcing motorists to steer around the bridge for at least another two months. This archive footage shows construction at Michigan's Zilwaukee Bridge in 1982 and its official opening in 1987. of the Zilwaukee Bridge, the details on the accident and the attendant $77 million (not counting approaches and ramp work). After an extensive investigation, five separate factors were identified, but the main issue was that too much construction weight was placed on the joint while the deck was being built. (You can read a lot more about the construction issue here). 2/24/2018 Aleana W. It's a iconic MI bridge. added to one end of the completed group, and then a balancing segment is On precast segmental bridges, the concrete segments must be delivered Why is the Zilwaukee Bridge so tall? 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 is also exceptionally tall to allow shipping to pass beneath the bridge. concrete segment onto the bridge, is the equivalent of 49 fully-loaded Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer. consisted of the new four-lane, double-leaf bascule (draw) bridge and a It helps prevent water and roadway contaminants The Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957. There has been a Saginaw bridge for nearly 70 years. Authorities chose the lower-cost option. Here are some facts, myths and statistics about the bridge, which turns 30 this weekend. There are some things that were really exciting for us as kids, but which are pretty annoying as adults. Zilwaukee Bridge: From the Beginning, The bascule bridge was permanently closed on that datebut only to automobile in a specially built facility and then transported to the construction River at the border of Washington and Oregon, opened in 1982, and the new The original Zilwaukee Bridge ended up causing more traffic than it eased, due to the fact that commuters in both directions had to stop whenever the drawbridge opened. Around 21 million vehicles a year ride up and over the Saginaw River. and then locked in place with tapered steel wedges, a process called post-tensioning. as they come together and fills the tiny imperfections in the faces. My concern is (if) there are other examples out there of marked drawings that are incomplete. following pages reproduce a 1987 report issued by the Michigan en.wikipedia.org. mate on the structure, a process called "match-casting." I believe it was demolished in 1989. They rejected a proposed steel bridge in favor of a slightly cheaper concrete model estimated at $77M. Around the time of opening, the Zilwaukee Bridge saw roughly 11.3 million vehicles cross per year, according to MDOT. In 1960, the new route opened -- and the Zilwaukee Bridge was born. through downtown as the through route. Periodically flooded roads around the world. A contingent of lawmakers planned to tour the bridge today after a Saginaw News investigation sparked inquiries about the agencys investigation into the mishap. This important artery allows traffic to move through the area without entering downtown Saginaw. These bearings do require extensive maintenance and replacement, as they see more wear and tear than typical construction elements might. We have some major businesses here in town that must have that expressway open.. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. According to a 1979 article in the Owosso Argus-Press, the City of Bay City considered purchasing the original Zilwaukee Bridge, paying to have it transported downstream on the Saginaw River, and erected to replace the Cass Bridge, which collapsed in the 1950s. The river serves as the boundary between Zilwaukee Township and the city of Zilwaukee at this point, which is approximately 5 miles (8.0km) north of downtown Saginaw. Each one was closely inspected by a specially On August 28, 1982, temporary compression blocks began to crush while a concrete segment was being transported, causing a 300-foot-long section of the bridge deck to sag five feet on one end, and rise three-and-a-half feet on the other end. The segmental bridge is built from individual concrete pieces, or segments, The main strength of the bridge comes from its 4,000 miles of steel tension cables hidden away in the concrete. posted to the USENET newsgroup alt.great-lakes the Once repairs were made, a new contractor was hired to complete the bridge once the initial contractor (Stevin Construction) and the state agreed to terminate their contract in exchange for both sides dropping their lawsuits over the accident. Now that is amazing. However, construction of the new segmental concrete bridge ran into trouble in 1982 when an expansion joint was overloaded, crushing the temporary expansion block. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. The two new segments then are stressed to the The mighty Mackinac Bridge is Michigans signature bridge, with its own rich history. to build than steel bridges and less expensive to maintain because of corrosion He enjoys suffering through Lions games on Sundays in the fall. cast into each segment. fabrication of the segments. The 4-lane highway crossed the Saginaw River as a draw bridge. As noted above, when the bridge was approximately half-complete, a major Unfortunately, shipping increased fourfold in the early 1960s; and each time the drawbridge opened, cars would back up for miles. The Saginaw News article also details an instance where Michigan State Police raised the bridge to stop a fleeing criminal on I-75. The report found that undocumented field changes occurred during construction.". 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. The The deck itself was able to be aligned back into place and the pier underneath was then heavily reinforced. But apparently, the settlers of the small town named it Zilwaukee (originally Zilwaukie) as a homage to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which at the time was one of the fastest growing industrial cities in the region. joint between the segments. Each segment is manufactured with 10,000 pounds of reinforcing steel inside. Department of Transportation, Zilwaukee Bridge: habitat. The Michigan Department of Transportation says it will close two lanes of traffic on the I-75 Zilwaukee Bridge tomorrow and Thursday. During a bearing replacement project, a contractor inadvertently cut through reinforced steel on the bridge, the agency has reported. being completed at either end of the new bridge, it was discovered one Unfortunately, that wasn't the reality. The state spent $120 million to build the bridge but design problems and. Create an account to start this course today. Zilwaukee Bridge. The new contractor developed a method of heating the concrete to allow construction during the winter. The segments are erected by a massive piece of machinery called a launching Great Lakes freighter traffic would force it to open about three times a day. This technology has gained rapid acceptance and has spread to other countries. Most roads are bridges are simple structures, he said. Mark Brush was Michigan Radios Digital Media Director. During bridge maintenance, I-675 is used as a detour route for traffic. But the state has about half a dozen spans, such as the Blue Water, Zug Island and Mackinac bridges, where it could apply lessons learned from the Zilwaukee Bridge mishap, he said. Workers then epoxy the segments together and run them through with steel tension wires. 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 Saginaw River at Zilwaukee. The Zilwaukee Bridge along Interstate 75 over the Saginaw River. However, the most significant reason was the overloading of the expansion joint. of Jason Hill: Zilwaukee Gallery, Michigan in Pictures: The Zilwaukee Bridge, Zilwaukee and constructed is a post-tensioned, segmental, box girder bridge and work "From the 'as built' plans for the bridge, the only steel that was expected to be encountered were smaller steel bars," said Bay Region Engineer Robert Ranck. back end and drives directly off. Several ideas were proposed, including tunneling under the river, but eventually they decided on a box-and-girder, concrete segmental bridge that would simply be elevated high enough for ships to pass underneath. or pillar. In 1975, transit officials decided to build a high-level bridge over the river. Support MLive.com. girder picks up the segments from the truck and delivers them to the location The $3.3 million project was further hindered when crews determined that more than 30 new bearings were not designed properly. The Zilwaukee Bridge has some impressive specifications. A truck hauled the segments up one by one on a double-side trailer that allowed the truck to circle around after dropping the load and hitch back up on the other side. As an aid in joining each precast piece to its mate, high-strength epoxy part of the I-75/US-10/US-23 freeway. at the intersecting roads. to traffic, the bad news did not stop even after motorists had been using of the ramp, now scheduled to open this year. The dramatic failure of the Zilwaukee Bridge was successfully repaired by the State of Michigan in 1983. are installed. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. Detroit Free Press noted "Containing and removing the toxic Located in Zilwaukee, in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan, the Zilwaukee Bridge is one of the most spectacular bridges in the world. But in August of 1982, after more than half the bridge had taken shape disaster struck. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters. This high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River is said to be the perfect example on how not to build a bridge. time it opened for river traffic. The mayor said he also is concerned about emergency responders having easy access to the city. http://media.mlive.com/saginawnews_impact/photo/zilwaukee-bridge-bbec235072ccfec4.jpg. Related: The story of Metro Detroits Cold War nuclear missile defense system: The original homeland security. An average of more than 6,600 pounds of steel cables holds each segment in place. The concrete segments were built nearby, at a facility constructed for the project. Zilwaukee Bridge - Old. It caused serious damage. This only after in the completed 1.5-mile-long bridge. major holiday weekends and during the fall hunting season. Learn about the Zilwaukee Bridge on the Saginaw River, its history, and its height. Rod Meloni is an Emmy Award-winning Business Editor on Local 4 News and a Certified Financial Planner Professional. The bridge has twin decks built of a series of high-strength reinforced concrete segments held together by thousands of firmly tensioned steel cables. Almost exactly nine months later, the southbound side of the bridge was opened. planned at that time, the 1953 bypass would become part of a much bigger and one set outside were specially tailored to cast the 1,592 segments While the need for a replacement of the original structure became acute soon after it was completed,[3] the construction of the current structure was also plagued with difficulties. This high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River is said to be the perfect example on how not to build a bridge. The device is 940 feet long and can easily bridge across the longest The so-called balanced cantilever construction went way out of balance. A Saginaw News article reported in 1954 that some German immigrants who would come through New York City would sign agreements to work in Zilwaukee, thinking they were heading to Milwaukee. MichiganDOT 6.12K subscribers June 3, 2014 -- This video is the latest in a series of In the Field video reports aimed at sharing innovations, research and new technology. more than six times as much as a fully-loaded standard 18-wheel, 40-ton Adding insult to injury, the contractor discovered that more than 30 of the new bearings weren't properly designed and would not fit where they were to be installed. That same year, S.J. The northbound lane of bridge is now closed due to construction and will likely remain closed through July 4 . You are being asked to avoid the area. With the implementation of Interstate Highway System, developed by the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, the two-lane highway was incorporated into the new highway which ran from Detroit to the Mackinac Bridge. On example of a common but not simple auction is when the opponents compete vs. our 1NT Semi-Forcing bid. MDOT Bay City Transportation Service Center Manager Gregg Brunner said pieces will fit perfectly when they are placed together on the bridge. Traffic began using the Zilwaukee Bridge again on October 1, 2008. 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. All rights reserved. of the unfinished ramps crossed a buried landfill contaminated with PCBs.
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