CR 480 bridge project continues

NEGUANEE — The rehabilitation project for a bridge on County Road 480 continues.

The exceedingly popular stretch has been under construction since the beginning of August. So far construction work has been highly efficient and despite some weather concerns the completion date is still on schedule. Although the abutments on the bridge were still in good condition, the deck was deteriorating.

“So what we did was we removed the existing steel girders that were on it, got them painted, put them back in place, put new bearings in place, then pouring a new deck on top,” said Director Of Engineering with the Marquette County Road Commission Kurt Taavola, “the deck is going to be a thicker deck which should get a lot more life out of it than the last one.”

At this time half of the new deck has been poured. The other half will be poured on Thursday. After that they will put the railings on it, do the concrete approach and asphalt paving to tie into the existing route.

Perhaps best of all, the rehabilitation of the bridge comes at a fractional cost to local road commission funding. That help comes from a grant through the Michigan local bridge program.

“With that funding, getting it that way, it’s basically 80% federal funding, 15% state funding, and 5% local road commission funding.”

The bridge is expected to be open on November 14th or 15th. Until that time drivers must continue to use one of the available detours.