and then locked in place with tapered steel wedges, a process called post-tensioning. Copyright 2022 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved. 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. completed. Many more steel tendons are stressed at this time to make the two spans Construction begins by placing two segments directly atop a bridge pier, 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. As an aid in joining each precast piece to its mate, high-strength epoxy Thanks to the new bridge, it is easy to get over the Saginaw. Precast segments, such as those at the Zilwaukee Bridge, are fabricated Hydraulic presses were used to realign the bridge. Authorities chose the lower-cost option. The river serves as the boundary between Zilwaukee Township and the city of Zilwaukee at this point, which is approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) north of downtown Saginaw. back end and drives directly off. This only after The main strength of the bridge comes from its 4,000 miles of steel tension cables hidden away in the concrete. Here's a copy of letters this week from an MDOT engineer to Kahn and from Kahn to MDOT's director about the Zilwaukee Bridge construction mishap. originally and prevents water seepage. We are working to learn more information. It took a decade to complete and was so plagued with problems it came very close to not opening at all. of firmly tensioned steel cables. Around the time of opening, the Zilwaukee Bridge saw roughly 11.3 million vehicles cross per year, according to MDOT. The Michigan Department of Transportation says it will close two lanes of traffic on the I-75 Zilwaukee Bridge tomorrow and Thursday. I feel like its a lifeline. The issue of one-way traffic is of great concern to local businesses and local government, he wrote in the letter to Steudle. Start your calculations and predictions will three lanes over the Zilwaukee Bridge be enough? I was not able to get a photograph of the bridge as as. Crank up the tunes. In the 1980's, Toebe completed a number of large . before being installed. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. To ease the commute along this route, a bridge was constructed over the Saginaw River. the span for more than a year. The entire segment instantly sank five feet lower than the section they were attempting to attach it to. Segmental bridges are in two general categories: precase and cast-in-place. Department of Transportation. feet in length to the huge I-205 Freeway Bridge, spanning the Columbia And it wasnt just the cars that suffered. Neither do we. trained, four-person team to ensure that they met predetermined standards The worst back-ups, of course, occurred during of the ramp, now scheduled to open this year. Each is formed by 12 strands 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. On August 28, 1982, temporary compression blocks began to crush while a concrete segment was being transported, causing a 300-foot-long section of the bridge deck to sag five feet on one end, and rise three-and-a-half feet on the other end. Michigan Highways > In Depth: The Zilwaukee Bridge, Page Contents: History The Replacement & Accident Ongoing Maintenance Zilwaukee That way, neither vehicle nor shipping traffic would be impeded by the other. The original completion date for the Zilwaukee Bridge was November 1983. The northbound portion of the bridge was finally opened to traffic on December 23, 1987, just in time for Christmas. The newly developed concept of interstate highways changed the way that people moved around and brought more commuters through the region on their way from Detroit to the Upper and Lower Peninsula-connecting Mackinac Bridge. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. This high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River is said to be the perfect example on how not to build a bridge. with post-tensioned steel cables to form the deck, or superstructure, of After more than four years, MDOT announced a $70-million project to replace 154 of the bridge's bearings as well as rebuild four miles of the I-75/US-23 freeway between the I-675 junctions, replace the Janes Ave overpass, and repair and widen the Wadsworth Rd and CSX Railroad underpasses to the south of the bridge. The four-lane, bascule bridge (or drawbridge) opened in 1960. My concern at this time is to make certain this type of construction accident does not occur again, Kahn wrote in a Wednesday letter to MDOT Director Kirk T. Steudle. Almost exactly nine months later, the southbound side of the found at the following link. 23 chapters | The Zilwaukee Bridge is a massive segmental concrete bridge that carries the I-75 over the Saginaw River in Michigan. It caused serious damage. Instead, a chemical compound called calcium magnesium acetate is used as an alternative. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. While the Zilwaukee Bridge is a bit shorter than the Mackinac Bridge, it is much wider. Construction on the new Zilwaukee Bridge began in 1979. Zilwaukee Bridge: From the Beginning, Michigan On December 7, 2012 the Detroit News reported that a $70 million MDOT program would commence the following April to replace 154 bearings, rebuild 4 miles of I-75, replace the Janes Road bridge, and repair the CSX and Wadsworth Road rail bridges in the area. With fuel prices the way they are, every mile extra hurts.. It is the cables that hold all the segments in compression. With the coming of the Interstate Highway System in the late-1950s, the to meet back up with US-23 (present-day M-13) 120 and 160 tons. New bearings of "high-density plastic material" will give the bridge a much longer life: The bridge project, along with other nearby bridge and highway projects, are expected to cost $70 million. While that may not sound like a lot, it's a big deal when talking about tons and tons of concrete and steel. However, the most significant reason was the overloading of the expansion joint. The project is expected to last through January 2015. We had to wait in line. Zilwaukee Bridge: From the Beginning, The If you need help with the Public File, call (313) 222-0566. As a child, watching the bridge open and close was pretty cool, but when you're an adult, running late for work and stuck in traffic, the magic is kind of lost. Its also one of Michigans most storied. A recent, major update in 2013 through 2015 replaced the original bearing pads at piers and expansion joints., which had a lifespan of around 25 years, Brunner said. text here is reproduced word-for-word from the original report and http://media.mlive.com/saginawnews_impact/photo/zilwaukee-bridge-bbec235072ccfec4.jpg. 10. The present structure was designed to relieve traffic congestion along the freeway crossing it, resulting from repeated openings of the draw span for lake freighter traffic serving industrial sites along the river. (MDOT) BAY CITY, Mich - Bay County 911 reports there are two different multi-vehicle accidents on both northbound and southbound I-75 on top of the Zilwaukee Bridge. were routed over the bridge for the first time on Wednesday, December 23, concrete, forming another layer of protection for the steel cables. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. The incident in August 1982 was caused by a large amount of mispositioned weight during the installation of a segment between two piers, according to MDOT. The Saginaw News reported on the price tag to keep the Zilwaukee Bridge free of snow and ice.The don't use cheap salt which would result in corrosion of. 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. group to create a solid unit, six segments long. A three-week project turned into six months, and crews ended up discovering that more than 30 of the new bearings werent properly designed and would not fit. When This story is a bit of legend, but its mostly accepted by local historians. Originally, the Zilwaukee Bridge was to be completed by November 1983. Well, hold on -- not exactly. The State Journal story from Nov. 11, 1960. Zilwaukee Bridge crash leaves 49-year-old woman seriously injured SAGINAW COUNTY, MI - Police expect a 49-year-old Ortonville woman to survive serious injuries she sustained after being hit by. It needs to hold up about another 50 to 60 years considering it could take roughly $1 billion to replace it. truck. The segmental bridge is built from individual concrete pieces, or segments, In 1978, the first shovels went into the ground to build high enough to allow high-speed traffic and freighters through at the same time. The compound gets rid of the ice without any worry of corrosion to the bridge. A Saginaw News article from 1967 details another freighters crash into the bridge, causing traffic to be re-routed for a few days. to turn the 70-foot trailer around on the 73-foot wide bridges, the trailer A midnight crew scrambled to safety as an overloaded thousand-foot-long bridge section shook, buckled and sagged. more than six times as much as a fully-loaded standard 18-wheel, 40-ton and can roll across these legs when necessary to move to a new position Another important step is taken to protect steel cables from corrosion. 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. This was The Zilwaukee Bridge has some impressive specifications. Do you know anyspectacular road?Click here to send us all the info, and we'll publish it! Workers then epoxy the segments together and run them through with steel tension wires. In 1975, transit officials decided to build a high-level bridge over the river. The hauler, based in Zilwaukee, transports auto parts and agriculture products. After a bridge span is complete and construction Then again, there's not much about THIS bridge that I had known prior to when I first visited this website last year. The setback took two years and $6 million more unbudgeted dollars. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Annotated Aerial Image, I-75 and Zilwaukee Bridge Improvements: Construction and Motorist Information, Photography the bridge. Each segment is manufactured with 10,000 pounds of reinforcing steel inside. By 1975, the state of Michigan was already planning out a replacement bridge to cross the Saginaw River. Ken Haddad is the digital content and audience manager for WDIV / ClickOnDetroit.com. An MDOT report found the 2008 issues were due to faulty documentation from the original construction, according to Michigan Highways. as the construction proceeds. each cable is about the size of a man's wrist. Cracks smaller than .004 inches Only one side of the bridge is open at a time, and traffic is shifted on Tuesday and Saturday, based on peak times. In fact, in 1979, the traffic jam was a whopping 56 miles long. mate on the structure, a process called "match-casting." 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. Traffic was shut down for about six months, before reopening in October of 2008. Sometimes the bridge would open without much warning, causing cars to crash while trying to slow down. MDOT closed the northbound lanes months longer than planned as a precaution and installed a steel brace on the outside of the massive concrete span that carries Interstate 75 traffic over the Saginaw River. following pages reproduce a 1987 report issued by the Michigan can be pulled from either end. 13. The dramatic failure of the Zilwaukee Bridge was successfully repaired by the State of Michigan in 1983. Many Michigan seniors, like Tom Fleisher of West Bloomfield, remember the signs warning people. In 1960, the new route opened -- and the Zilwaukee Bridge was born. River at the border of Washington and Oregon, opened in 1982, and the new You know anyspectacular road? Click here to send us all the info, the. To slow down constructed over the River said to be the perfect example on how not to a... Originally, the southbound side of the found at the border of Washington and Oregon, opened in 1960 the! 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