They are held together with 20,000 miles of steel cable. The shifting of the deck destroyed the bearing, damaged the pillar and foundations, broke apart concrete slabs of the deck, and misaligned other joints in the structure. 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. They range from a few hundred The mayor said he also is concerned about emergency responders having easy access to the city. And they did this to try and trick new settlers, like immigrants, into thinking it was actually Milwaukee. They look like this: According to Michigan Highways, MDOT engineer Matthew Chynoweth says the bearings for the Zilwaukee Bridge are getting worn out. which are hollow and usually rectangular in shape. Originally, the bridge seemed like a big improvement, but it ran into problems rather quickly. Brunner said MDOT will meet with government officials and business owners to review traffic patterns before construction begins. It was actually a four-lane draw bridge and a freeway beginning at the northern end of the 1953 bypass (at present-day M-13), crossing the bridge and continuing north into Bay City. After the completion of the new bridge, the Zilwaukee Bridge experienced a stretch of mostly peace for cars and freighters alike. Still looking for information "and Bay City officials want to buy it, dismantle it and move it 7 1/2 miles north to replace bridge in city that collapsed in the 1950s. 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. In April 2008, work crews replacing bridge bearings unexpectedly drilled into several reinforcing steel bars in the bridge. The Department followed rigid procedures for quality control during the How to Survive and Journey through the Nanisivik Highway, The Ultimate Guide to Traveling the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway, Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road was closed permanently on April 2017, Dalton Highway is the loneliest road on Earth, Slettnes lighthouse: the road to the end of Europe, How to Stay Safe on Dangerous Roads: Preparing Your Car for Bad Weather Driving. The bearing replacement project consisted of construction crews lifting the bridge structure about an inch using jacks "the size of large wine barrels," according to MDOT. So a new footing was built over the old footing and that is anchored down into bedrock, Chynoweth said. Traffic heading north each weekend, and south when the weekend is over, will still be able to traverse three lanes on the bridge. Top top it off, shipping traffic actually quadrupled in the years after BAY CITY, Mich. (WNEM) - The Bay Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced it is permanently changing its routes to avoid tolls on Liberty Bridge and . A recent, major update in 2013 through 2015 replaced the original bearing pads at piers and expansion joints., which had a lifespan of around 25 years, Brunner said. since the bridges construction in the 1980s, the agency has used posted to the USENET newsgroup alt.great-lakes the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at Tampa, Fla., opened in 1987. It was only 150 feet wide and several ships ended up clipping the bridge, causing damage and even more traffic issues. The Michigan Department of Transportation says it will close two lanes of traffic on the I-75 Zilwaukee Bridge tomorrow and Thursday. 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.". All rights reserved (About Us). Zilwaukee Bridge is ahigh level bridge carrying I-75 [and US-23] over Around 21 million vehicles a year ride up and over the Saginaw River. the bridge. In 1979, with its Joint Venture partner Stevin Construction, Toebe won the contract to construct the Zilwaukee Bridge near Saginaw, Michigan. Now, an average of 21.6 million vehicles cross the bridge per year. group to create a solid unit, six segments long. girder. subjected every day to far heavier weights than it will ever experience Rated 5 / 5. The southbound lanes opened in the fall of 1988, at which point the old bascule bridge was officially closed. Aerial map of Zilwaukee Bridges by Chris Bessert/Michigan Highways. earlier two-lane highway of Saginaw was incorporated into the new Interstate While there was a bridge in 1953, the area gained importance as a thoroughfare with the completion of the interstate highway system during the 1950s. And the final contract to complete the bridge after a construction mishap totaled $38 million. Thus, the new bridge is We have some major businesses here in town that must have that expressway open.. The freighter was fine but the bridge suffered substantial damage. Its purpose, though, was largely as a seal to keep out water and roadway contaminants. It was actually a four-lane draw bridge and a freeway beginning at the northern end of the. The Zilwaukee Bridge was conceived as a way around I-75's drawbridge, called a bascule bridge, over the Saginaw River. 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. There were discussions about abandoning the project completely. Zilwaukee Bridge. designed machines made for that particular project. [Image: The bridge takes shape. After a bridge span is complete and construction other ideas had been batted around, including a tunnel under the river 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. I say we go back to these days and watch the boats go by: 91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids
are 73.5 feet wide and either eight feet or 12 feet long. The first two of those still serve this route across the current Zilwaukee Bridge today, but U.S. 10 was scaled back to end . The bridge has twin decks built of a series of high-strength reinforced concrete segments held together by thousands of firmly tensioned steel cables. 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It stands on its own steel legs While a decommissioning of the Zilwaukee bridge is a long way off, the bridge's lifespan is probably in the ballpark of 80 to 100 years, said Gregg Brunner, associate region engineer with the Michigan Department of Transportation. Use our interactive map to explore the roads or just discover them by browsing the site. It helps prevent water and roadway contaminants the bridge was completed and the back-ups on the freeway reached three To use information contained on this site is to do so at your own risk. If youd like to read more in depth about the history of the Zilwaukee Bridge, check out this A-to-Z guide from Michigan Highways. There are some things that were really exciting for us as kids, but which are pretty annoying as adults. to the bridge and held in place while the epoxy is applied and the cables on the new structure commenced in late-1979 and was projected to cost approximately 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. The project is expected to last through January 2015. At Zilwaukee, these jobs are accomplished by two specially When we were kids this thing was massive and scarrrrrryyyyy!! Bridge in Zilwaukee and Zilwaukee Township, Michigan, "Z-Bridge screw up remains under investigation", "$70M construction project planned for Zilwaukee Bridge in April", "In the Field Report - "The Zilwaukee Bridge project", "Why Bridges Have Failed Throughout History", "The Z-Bridge: The Turbulent History Behind Michigan's Zilwaukee Bridge", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zilwaukee_Bridge&oldid=1120452718, Buildings and structures in Saginaw County, Michigan, Transportation in Saginaw County, Michigan, Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System, Short description is different from Wikidata, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 November 2022, at 02:38. 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). computer-aided design drawings for projects built since the mid-1990s. pieces will fit perfectly when they are placed together on the bridge. planned at that time, the 1953 bypass would become part of a much bigger Cracks smaller than .004 inches Construction crews began work on a major renovation project on the Zilwaukee Bridge this week. ** FILE **Traffic is stop and go over the Zilwaukee Bridge Sunday afternoon in this July 6, 2003 photo, as the Fourth of July motorists head home. Cables in the bridge run through galvanized steel ducts that have been A match-cast segment is attached to one side of that pier group There will be about 27,000 miles of eighth-inch wire A bit of a boring one, the Zilwaukee Bridge carries I-75 and US-23 over the Saginaw River and connects Zilwaukee with Zilwaukee Township. originally and prevents water seepage. 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. This would have been a big enough problem with only the increased vehicle traffic, but Michigan's growing economy also meant that shipping traffic was rapidly increasing. [4] On October 21, 2008 the bridge opened up to north and southbound traffic once again. 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. of Jason Hill: Zilwaukee Gallery, Michigan in Pictures: The Zilwaukee Bridge, Zilwaukee He's been with WDIV since 2013. (MDOT) 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 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. Copyright 2023 ClickOnDetroit.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. Its a lot of extra time and miles for my truck because were right off I-75, he said. After the cleanup and investigations and hiring of new contractors, work didn't resume until late 1984. and one set outside were specially tailored to cast the 1,592 segments Almost exactly nine months later, the southbound side of the bridge was opened. 23/U.S. With the coming of the Interstate Highway System in the late-1950s, the The main strength of the bridge comes from its 4,000 miles of steel tension cables hidden away in the concrete. after it is opened to traffic. The bridge was only 150 feet wide and several ships actually hit A Saginaw News article from 1967 details another freighters crash into the bridge, causing traffic to be re-routed for a few days. This drawbridge was meant to ease congestion, but made it worse as both vehicle and shipping traffic drastically increased. Ground view shows massive dimensions Zilwaukee Bridge: From the Beginning, The During construction, the expansion joints were held in place by compression blocks that prevented them from moving until the box-girder deck was completed. This balanced group of four Instead, a chemical compound called calcium magnesium acetate is used as an alternative. The device is 940 feet long and can easily bridge across the longest project later in the decade. Workers then epoxy the segments together and run them through with steel tension wires. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River in the U.S. state of Michigan. the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee. In 1960, the new route opened -- and the Zilwaukee Bridge was born. Bridge Construction Engineering. 195 lessons. The segments are joined The 4-lane highway crossed the Saginaw River as a draw bridge. 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