Ottawa County has several 'obsolete' bridges

Thu, Apr 23, 2009

Ottawa County has one of the 471 bridges in the state classified as "structurally deficient" in an updated highway bridge report released Tuesday by the Michigan Department of Transportation.

That bridge is located on westbound I-96, about four-tenths of a mile northwest of M-104. Built in 1961, the bridge may require rehabilitation or replacement "at some time in the future," the report noted.

Eight of the 919 bridges in the state classified as "functionally obsolete" are in Ottawa County. This means "they are outdated and may require modernization at some time in the future," the report stated.

These "obsolete" structures include the VanWagoner Road and Taft Road bridges over U.S. 31, north of Grand Haven, which were built in 1957 and 1958. It also includes the bridge on 112th Avenue in Nunica over I-96, which was built in 1961; the 48th Avenue Bridge over I-96 which was built in 1957; and the 68th Avenue Bridge in Coopersville over 1-96, which was constructed in 2003.

National Bridge Inspection Standards require MDOT to inspect bridges every two years. The report includes information on the inspection of 4,397 state highway bridges.

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