MANISTEE — With Manistee’s M-55 bridge replacement in 2021 and Maple Street bridge being repaired in 2022, the Michigan Department of Transportation has its sights set on a rehabilitation project for the U.S. 31 bascule bridge.
“Some of the items that we’ll be working on is the replacement of the deck, the approaches, structural repairs and rust removal,” said Jim Johnson, construction engineer for MDOT’s Traverse City Transportation Service Center office. “We’re doing a full painting, substructure patching, electrical and mechanical improvements.”
Johnson and Krista Phillips, operations engineer for the Traverse City Transportation Service Center office, gave a presentation Tuesday during Manistee City Council’s regular meeting.
Johnson said the $12.8 million project has been awarded to Milbocker & Sons, of Allegan, which was also the contractor for the M-55 bridge project.
“That was just recently — in November. … We still have not met with them,” Johnson said. “They’re still going through the award process with the state. I’m guessing probably early in 2023, maybe February or March, we’ll start our pre-construction meetings with them and get more of a construction schedule from them.”
Johnson said the U.S. 31 bridge project is expected to last from July 2023 to April 2024.
While much of the project can be accomplished with single lane closures, there will be two periods of time during which the bridge will be fully closed.
Johnson said while it is too soon to have specific dates for the closures, time ranges have been established from which the contractor can schedule the closures.
“As an example, the first one is from July 15 to Oct. 14. They’ll have the ability to have a 70-day shutdown in that point,” Johnson said. “And then the second one is from January to March (in 2024) and they’re allowed a 50-day (shutdown). Beyond that, there’ll pretty much always be a single-lane closure for the project.”
Two detours will be in place during the two shutdowns, with one spanning M-55 and Stronach Road, and the other involving First Street, Maple Street and Memorial Drive or Monroe Street.
“As you’re heading northbound you are able to come down First, hit Maple and then go on Memorial Drive, which is kind of a shorter route to maneuver people,” Johnson said. “… And then coming southbound, … that’s coming on Monroe, to Maple and back to First Street.”
Pedestrian detours will also be utilized when necessary.
“The intent is still to get pedestrians to be able to move around the city to be able to get from one side to the other,” Johnson said.
Phillips said two more minor MDOT projects will be taking place on U.S. 31 in the area in 2023.
“One is the concrete pavement area south of the city. It’s going to have basically a repair project done to fix the bumpy joints that are down there,” she said. “That should only be a week or two-week project under flag control. … We should be in and out of that one. The other one … is just north of the county line. … It’s a chip and a fog seal. That one should be quick as well — probably just a couple days of flagging.”
MDOT plans to apply a new layer of asphalt to 6.75 miles of M-55 from Udell Hills Road to Cooley Bridge in 2025.
“That would take a little bit longer because we have to raise the road two inches so we have to buffer it out on the sides,” Phillips said. “It takes a little bit longer to do that.”
The next large project in Manistee is slated to take place on U.S. 31 in 2027, Phillips said.
“We’re basically reconstructing through downtown Manistee. We’re going to be working very closely with your staff,” she said. “… We’re going to incorporate your water main project into our design. … We’re going to be doing our construction in 2027, but the design will start soon.”
Contract awarded for Manistee’s US 31 bridge project
