In 2022, Gov. Whitmer is making the largest investment in state roads and bridges in Michigan’s history 

LANSING, MI ?– On June 13th, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that three major bridge repair projects are starting this week as part of her Rebuilding Our Bridges program. The bridges include the Five Point Highway bridge over the Battle Creek River in Eaton County, Squawfield Road bridge over the east branch of the St. Joseph River in Hillsdale County, and the Maple Island Road bridge at Brooks Creek in Muskegon County.  

“Together, we are moving dirt to fix roads and bridges across Michigan to keep drivers safe and save them time and money," said?Governor Whitmer. "Since I took office through the end of this year, Michigan has fixed over 16,000 lane miles of road and 1,200 bridges, supporting nearly 89,000 jobs. Now, as construction season kicks into high gear, we have completed six bridge projects, with the latest completed two weeks ahead of schedule. We are setting up orange cones at record pace as we make the largest investment in state roads and bridges in Michigan's history thanks to the bipartisan Building Michigan Together Plan and my Rebuilding Our Bridges program. Let's keep fixing our roads with the right mix and materials, so they stay fixed, and support good-paying jobs along the way to power our economy to new highs.” 

Rebuilding Our Bridges projects starting this week:

"This is the most supportive program from the State of Michigan for local bridges that I've ever seen," said Wayne Harrall, deputy managing director for engineering at the Kent County Road Commission. "The MDOT Bureau of Bridges has engaged with local agencies from the beginning, before there was even funding allocated to the effort." 

About Rebuilding Our Bridges Program  

The Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Rebuilding Our 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. 

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. 

The program’s online dashboard at?Michigan.gov/BridgeBundling?provides project updates and shows percent completion, detour routes, and other information for each of these projects.  

The remaining seven bridges to be rebuilt this year under the pilot project are:  

Completed Rebuilding Our Bridges projects:  

Rebuilding Our Bridges Program Phase II 

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