I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. The bridge design called for expansion joints that would enable the bridge to expand and contract as the temperature rose and fell. This only after It was only 150 feet wide and several ships ended up clipping the bridge, causing damage and even more traffic issues. 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. And it wasnt just the cars that suffered. There has been a Saginaw bridge for nearly 70 years. The last one was cast in late 1986. News never stops. In 1960, the new route opened -- and the Zilwaukee Bridge was born. Sometimes the bridge would open without much warning, causing cars to crash while trying to slow down. bridge was opened to traffic on Monday, September 19, 1988. Really makes me wonder - if that was a seriously considered plan, what happened? This story is a bit of legend, but its mostly accepted by local historians. freeway beginning at the northern end of the 1953 bypass (at present-day M-13), The grout cures to become group to create a solid unit, six segments long. This important artery allows traffic to move through the area without entering downtown Saginaw. That same year, S.J. On precast segmental bridges, the concrete segments must be delivered time it opened for river traffic. 23 Location Zilwaukee, Saginaw County, Michigan Status Open to traffic History Built 1987 Design Concrete stringer Dimensions (1.5 mi.) A 69 News crew is at the scene of this developing story. At Zilwaukee, these jobs are accomplished by two specially Now, an average of 21.6 million vehicles cross the bridge per year. It wasnt until 1987 that the final piece of concrete would be installed, and the northbound lanes of I-75/US-23 were routed over the bridge just before Christmas in 1987. For the first three years, everything went according to plan, and all of the piers were constructed on schedule. The device is 940 feet long and can easily bridge across the longest While that may not sound like a lot, it's a big deal when talking about tons and tons of concrete and steel. In the 1980's, Toebe completed a number of large . It tried to drop an anchor, but it was too late -- the ship slammed into the southbound bridge. As the interstate highway system brought increased traffic to the area, a drawbridge was built in 1960. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River in the U.S. state of Michigan. Many Michigan seniors, like Tom Fleisher of West Bloomfield, remember the signs warning people. But work didnt resume after the accident until 1984, with a new contractor. Rated 5 / 5. the bridge opened, it also caused problems for traffic on the Saginaw River Zilwaukee Mayor Gene Jolin said he hopes the state will keep two-way traffic on the bridge when it starts a two-year deck replacement and bearing project in 2012. These bearings do require extensive maintenance and replacement, as they see more wear and tear than typical construction elements might. Ken Haddad is the digital content and audience manager for WDIV / ClickOnDetroit.com. with many steel cables to form the decks.]. of concrete was installed on the bridge and the northbound lanes of the I-75/US-23 freeway Some believe this Michigan bridge marks the start of Up North. subjected every day to far heavier weights than it will ever experience The Z-Bridge, as it has come to be called, has a rich and, at times, dangerous history, but its without a doubt one of the best-known bridges in Michigan. and one set outside were specially tailored to cast the 1,592 segments 107. T-shirts and other items emblazoned with an image of a broken Zilwaukee Bridge and the word "Oops were available at local gas stations, according to residents. be found in Section The bridge carries the I-75 / US 23 road. 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. One thing worth noting: Upon the opening of this bridge to traffic, it served a triple concurrency of I-75/U.S. I say we go back to these days and watch the boats go by: 91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids If you need help with the Public File, call (313) 222-0566. primary purpose of the epoxy is to act as an environmental seal of the inch in diameter. 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. dangerousroads.org is not responsible for the information contained in these pages. Aerial map of Zilwaukee Bridges by Chris Bessert/Michigan Highways. We want your experiences too! Posted December 22, 2019, by Mike Kerkau (mjkerkau [at] gmail [dot] com) One thing worth noting: Upon the opening of this bridge to traffic, it served a triple concurrency of I-75/U.S. The original bid for the project was $76.8 million. 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. Heres an aerial map that shows the location of the draw bridge vs. the new bridge: Construction on the new structure, projected to cost about $77 million without ramps and approaches, started in late 1979. en.wikipedia.org. The mayor said he also is concerned about emergency responders having easy access to the city. 13. of the Zilwaukee Bridge, the details on the accident and the attendant Traffic was shut down for about six months, before reopening in October of 2008. Zilwaukee Bridge. There were engineering calculations done that said this needs to be here and this load needs to be here and this counterweight needs to be here6 and it simply was not followed, former MDOT Chief Bridge Engineer Matt Chynoweth said. The compound gets rid of the ice without any worry of corrosion to the bridge. On Saturday, the bridge has three southbound lanes, while northbound traffic. 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. I dont know whether or not the problem with the Z-Bridge is limited to the Z-Bridge or not, said Kahn, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a recent interview. Insofar as that is the case, we will have continuing problems with repairs, whether its bridges, roads or any other construction projects that the state of Michigan has undertaken.. Along with asking for new procedures so that mistakes are not made due to outdated blueprints, the letter asked the agency to notify the senators office when the procedures are finalized.. Flint Journal file photoTravelers go on the Zilwaukee Bridge during lunchtime in 1999. MDOT Bay City Transportation Service Center Manager Gregg Brunner said There were discussions about abandoning the project completely. completely cured, the expoxy is stronger than the concrete segments which And the final contract to complete the bridge after a construction mishap totaled $38 million. The main reason for the accident was that too much weight was placed on a compression block. That structure was supposed to be completed in 1983, but the collapse of a temporary compression block on an expansion joint in 1982 literally derailed the project. Around the time of opening, the Zilwaukee Bridge saw roughly 11.3 million vehicles cross per year, according to MDOT. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Photo taken by Douglas Butler in August 2014, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY). on the bridge did not resume until late 1984 under a new contract with MDOT has concluded no one was at fault and blamed three-decade-old as built drawings that didnt show where the steel was located as the problem. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Traffic shifted between I-75/US-23 and I-675 twice weekly to ensure three lanes were open in the direction of peak travel. and reconstructing the newly-completed I-675 loop or pillar. If you need help with the Public File, call (313) 222-0566. completion. on the job weigh 160 tons, so the loaded unit can weigh up to 262 tons, Groves and Sons Company was the low bidder on a contract to complete the remaining bridge, and they engaged T.Y. A Saginaw News article from 1967 details another freighters crash into the bridge, causing traffic to be re-routed for a few days. The state spent $120 million to build the bridge but design problems and long delays left everyone uncertain it would ever get used. where they are to be erected. Less than fifteen years after the original bascule bridge was opened, Six steps were required to bring the tilted 300-foot deck section back to its intened position. In April 2008, a scheduled $3.3-million construction project to replace bridge bearingsdesigned to support up to 8,000,000 pounds eachwhich allow the bridge to move as much as a foot hit a snag. concrete segment onto the bridge, is the equivalent of 49 fully-loaded 4: The Accident in The Crank up the tunes. When we open 1-Major and show a hand with a long suit, the opponents often find a way to get in the way. Instead, a chemical compound called calcium magnesium acetate is used as an alternative. Originally anticipated to last a few weeks, the project instead stretched more than six months when construction workers from Midwest Bridge Company of Williamston drilled into one of the bridge's steel tensioning rods. cast into each segment. computer-aided design drawings for projects built since the mid-1990s. to meet back up with US-23 (present-day M-13) In this installment, MDOT. That way, neither vehicle nor shipping traffic would be impeded by the other. 10. consisted of the new four-lane, double-leaf bascule (draw) bridge and a Later during construction of new on- and off-ramps in the M-13 interchange on the bridge approach, workers uncovered an uncharted landfill containing PCB-contaminated waste, necessitating an environmental cleanup. The immediate response to the accident was to halt construction and investigate the extent of the damage. onto the bridge, unhooks from the front end of the trailer, hooks to the built in western Europe and have been found to be generally more economical It stands on its own steel legs During construction, the expansion joints were held in place by compression blocks that prevented them from moving until the box-girder deck was completed. These features expand or contract with the temperature, giving the bridge the ability to adjust to both the warm Michigan summers and extreme colds of winter without sacrificing structural stability. The current eight-lane structure, completed in 1988, is the second such bridge at this location, replacing . By the end of the next year, the original 1953 US-23 bypass These joints have to be kept perfectly immobile during construction, so they are filled with temporary blocks held in place with steel tendons. Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. The 1982 accident completely stopped construction. Zilwaukee Bridge is ahigh level bridge carrying I-75 [and US-23] over When called tendons, to form a solid unit. By 1982, the 52 piers that would support the bridge were finished, and expansion joints were being added. Cables in the bridge run through galvanized steel ducts that have been Detroit Free Press noted "Containing and removing the toxic The tractor and trailer combined weigh 102 tons. However, the size of interstate traffic was simply not appropriate for a small citynor did many drivers want to slow down on their way north to rural areas or south to Detroit. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a.high level bridge carrying I-75 [and US-23] over the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee. They look like this: According to Michigan Highways, MDOT engineer Matthew Chynoweth says the bearings for the Zilwaukee Bridge are getting worn out. [4] On October 21, 2008 the bridge opened up to north and southbound traffic once again. After eight years of construction, the northbound lanes of the Zilwaukee Bridge were opened Dec. 23, 1987. The issue of one-way traffic is of great concern to local businesses and local government, he wrote in the letter to Steudle. Without the Zilwaukee Bridge, it would be much more difficult for drivers to pass through the region. The bridge has twin decks built of a series of high-strength reinforced concrete segments held together by thousands of firmly tensioned steel cables. had also been converted to full freeway with overpasses and interchanges But the $3.3 million project hit some road blocks in March, forcing motorists to steer around the bridge for at least another two months. construction accident halted all work in August 1982. Read about the Zilwaukee Bridge collapse in 1982 and its reconstruction. In April 2008, work crews replacing bridge bearings unexpectedly drilled into several reinforcing steel bars in the bridge. major holiday weekends and during the fall hunting season. At the time, the project was the largest pre-cast concrete segmental bridge in the United States, and the largest project the MDOT had ever undertaken. spans are complete, the last segment is cast in place to join the spans. since the bridges construction in the 1980s, the agency has used They weigh between The Zilwaukee Bridge has a mile-long box underneath the entire span so maintenance workers can keep an eye on how its holding up. Adding insult to injury, the contractor discovered that more than 30 of the new bearings weren't properly designed and would not fit where they were to be installed. added to one end of the completed group, and then a balancing segment is 2/24/2018 Aleana W. It's a iconic MI bridge. But the state has about half a dozen spans, such as the Blue Water, Zug Island and Mackinac bridges, where it could apply lessons learned from the Zilwaukee Bridge mishap, he said. In November 1978, bids were taken for either a steel or concrete bridge, according to MDOT records. before being installed. Though some have speculated that the bridge was glued together, theyre not entirely far off. Michigan Highways > In Depth: The Zilwaukee Bridge, Page Contents: History The Replacement & Accident Ongoing Maintenance Zilwaukee Adam has taught history, government, and economics to students in grades 6-12 for five years. Each one was closely inspected by a specially In the early-1950s, the Michigan State Highway Department constructed a mate on the structure, a process called "match-casting." The town's founders called it Zilwaukee to confuse it with the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in hopes of luring settlers there to work. The accident delayed construction for over 2 years.Pic: http://media.mlive.com/saginawnews_impact/photo/zilwaukee-bridge-bbec235072ccfec4.jpg. as well. back end and drives directly off. The bridge is named after the small city in Saginaw County, Zilwaukee, obviously. A report released by MDOT in December 2010 noted the problems with the 2008 project were due to faulty documentation from the bridge's original construction. Each cable is stretched with hydraulic jacks, stressed to nearly 200 tons, To use information contained on this site is to do so at your own risk. 23 chapters | I-675 was built, in part, to help traffic bypass the original drawbridge while the current high-level Zilwaukee Bridge was being proposed and constructed, in addition to providing better access into and through downtown Saginaw. crossing the bridge and continuing northerly toward Bay City. The hauler, based in Zilwaukee, transports auto parts and agriculture products. The largest segments The previous drawbridge was the only location at which the I-75 stopped between Florida and Michigan. 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. traffic. Workers then epoxy the segments together and run them through with steel tension wires. Annotated Aerial Image, I-75 and Zilwaukee Bridge Improvements: Construction and Motorist Information, Photography Deck width: 74.0 ft. Also called I-75 Saginaw River Bridge Approximate latitude, longitude +43.48232, -83.91243 (decimal degrees) Share YOUR roads!We'vemorethan 13.000 roads but we want more! Traffic heading north each weekend, and south when the weekend is over, will still be able to traverse three lanes on the bridge. and another is attached to the opposite side. A pier footing cracked, presumably due to resulting stress. This was done because the truck and trailer wouldnt have enough space to turn around. However, the most significant reason was the overloading of the expansion joint. The original Zilwaukee Bridge as a four-lane draw bridge. Bridge "bearings" are pads under the bridge deck that transfer loads to the piers while allowing for some movement. It needs to hold up about another 50 to 60 years considering it could take roughly $1 billion to replace it. 0:00 / 1:50 The history, design and construction of the Zilwaukee Bridge 30 Years Later MLive 423K subscribers Subscribe 20 3.5K views 5 years ago Saturday, Dec. 23 2017 will mark the 30th. Copyright 2022 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved. Work began on the southbound span first during 2013 and then transitioned over to the northbound bridge during 2014. A 1960 article in the Lansing State Journal reported about a German-registry lake freighter, carrying 4,300 tons of scrap steel, slamming into the draw bridge after the bridge was jammed in the open position. To ease the commute along this route, a bridge was constructed over the Saginaw River. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. fabrication of the segments. All rights reserved. It was projected to reach completion in 1983 at a cost of $77 million. 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. Back to: Table of Contents, Michigan a new contractor. Cracks smaller than .004 inches We need to make sure that we have good agreements with partner about how our bidding changes when the opponents come into the auction. can be pulled from either end. originally and prevents water seepage. 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. 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