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Information Photo by Steve Schulwitz
Automobiles cross in excess of the Bagley Street Bridge soon after it reopened for website traffic on Thursday.


ALPENA — Much more than 15 months considering the fact that the reconstruction of the Bagley Avenue Bridge started, contractors set the ending touches on the bridge Thursday morning and it opened up to website traffic afterwards in the day.
The $10.3 million task commenced in February of very last year and was partially open up for the wintertime months when development was halted. It shut once more in April so crews could finish the work.
The first predicted completion date was December of final 12 months.
The task confronted some delays from the COVID-19 pandemic and difficult limestone — found out during soil boring operate — forcing minimal changes to the bridge’s layout on a number of occasions.
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Alpena County Road Commission Controlling Director Ryan Brege stated crews labored hard Thursday morning to get the bridge open up and suited for targeted visitors.
“There was a remarkable total of coordination to get it open now,” Brege claimed. “We had to make positive the contractor was 100% finished prior to allowing visitors on it, since we did not want to open it, and then have to near it once more.”
The bridge has gone through a comprehensive renovation and the deck on the new bridge doubles the width and incorporates a change lane, a sidewalk, and a combined-use walkway. Brege mentioned the composition is full, but there is some basic mop-up function to complete in the coming times.
“They are nevertheless operating on some landscaping outdoors the bridge and the lights nevertheless requires to be finalized,” he explained. “There is some lasting signing heading up as we discuss, but the bridge alone is finished.”
Brege earlier told The News the bridge will a lot more quickly deal with the volume of visitors that crosses every working day. He reported an common of 15,000 autos cross the bridge just about every working day — a increased volume of targeted traffic than when the bridge was first developed in 1976.
Brege explained the bridge’s everyday living expectancy is 75 years with program upkeep.
When the undertaking was introduced, the Road Commission supplied the community a preference: Closing the bridge for a a single calendar year to complete the entire project — or closing the bridge down to just one lane for two a long time and finishing the perform around the targeted traffic.
Correspondence to the Highway Commission indicated individuals wanted to get the project carried out as quickly as doable so the just one-yr possibility was chosen.
The sudden issues of the pandemic, a supply-chain concern, and limestone could have thrown the challenge some curveballs, but Brege stated the undertaking went easily in general and the community has a bridge that’s secure.
“I seriously enjoy the people’s patience and understanding,” he stated. “We did not want it to go into a second 12 months any much more than anybody else, but we wished to make absolutely sure the bridge was created adequately and to specification. We did not want to slice any corners.”
The reopening of the bridge should really loosen up traffic up and down Chisholm Avenue and 11th Avenue — where a detour to circumvent the development zone was recognized. Even though the bridge was shut, there have been quite a few crashes alongside the detour.
Funding for the undertaking arrived from state and federal grants, as nicely as vital matching income from the Highway Fee.







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