LANSING, MI — Governor Gretchen Whitmer announces the reopening of the Herbison Road bridge over the Looking Glass River to traffic. This is the fourth, and largest, bridge repaired this year under the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Rebuilding Michigan Bridges program.

"The reopening of the Herbison Road bridge is something for all drivers to celebrate. Thanks to our hard work, we are moving dirt to fix roads and bridges across Michigan to keep drivers safe and save them time and money," Whitmer said. “Through the end of 2022, we will fix over 16,000 lane miles of road and more than 1,200 bridges, supporting nearly 89,000 jobs. We’re fixing our infrastructure with the right mix and material, so it stays fixed. Last year, I signed a bipartisan bill that will fix 59 additional bridges across the state, and today I am proud that our bridge repair efforts through the Rebuilding Michigan Bridges program continue to make progress, this time on the Herbison Road bridge over the Looking Glass River. The projects we’re moving forward with will support more good-paying jobs and deliver on an issue that matters to us all — safe, reliable infrastructure. Let’s get it done."

The bridge is a key connection in Watertown Township’s local road network. The bridge deck was in poor condition and in need of significant repair or replacement.

“The MDOT team did a great job from start to finish,” said Mark Trotter, Director of Engineering for the Clinton County Road Commission. “They took on full administration of the project, allowing road commission staff to focus on other priorities over the course of the design and construction process.”

The Rebuilding Michigan Bridges pilot program, the first of its kind in Michigan, will repair 19 bridges owned by local agencies in serious or critical condition. Each bridge will have its superstructure replaced, which includes full removal and replacement of the bridge deck and supporting beams. All bridges encompassed by the program will be completed and reopened to traffic within 60 or 90 days from the start of repairs.

The pilot project is funded by Federal Highway Improvement Program dollars. MDOT bridge staff and consultants are doing preliminary design and construction administration work for the bridge bundling program.

MDOT expects bridge bundling, which covers several bridge locations under one contract, to streamline coordination and permitting, increase economies of scale, and improve bridge conditions on local routes around the state. MDOT is working to expand the approach, already in use on state trunkline projects, to address locally owned bridges.

$196 million in federal COVID relief funds appropriated by Whitmer and the Legislature will allow the state to execute Phase II of the bridge bundling program, beginning later this year, to address 59 more bridges.