Anyone who's driven down East Stadium Boulevard lately will be happy with this news: The bridges project was awarded almost $14 million for repairs.
Ann Arbor will receive $13.9 million from the US Dept of Transportation for the failing East Stadium bridges, for which Ann Arbor has been trying to secure funding for years. The funds pay for all but $9 million of the project.
Homayoon Pirooz, project management manager for the city of Ann Arbor, explains that the bridge has been down to two lanes for the last year and a half while the funding was nailed down. The construction plans are ready, and now the city is waiting to see if some additional funding will come through. It will likely take several months for paperwork and contract bidding, with construction expected to begin by next summer.
"This is huge," Pirooz says. "If we didn't have this money, and we had to pay for the project by our own local dollars, it would have a huge impact on our ability to keep up with some of the future construction projects that we also need to undertake in the next couple of years. We spend $7 million to 8 million a year on road projects, so that's about two years of construction work."
AnnArbor.com is reporting that an MDOT official hinted yesterday that that funding, another $4.5 million worth, would be coming through.
The Stadium Boulevard corridor has already been affected by the narrowed road and the limitation to heavy truck traffic. "That's a system that is not functioning like it's supposed to," he says. "Our whole region will benefit from an improvement like this."
The bridges, which carry more than 48,000 vehicles per day, have been reduced to one lane since January 2009 after an inspection discovered a small deflection in one of the beams. The bridge over South State Street was built in 1917, and the bridge over the railroad tracks in 1928.
Source: Homayoon Pirooz, project management manager for the city of Ann Arbor
Writer: Kristin Lukowski
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