Each cable is stretched with hydraulic jacks, stressed to nearly 200 tons, primary purpose of the epoxy is to act as an environmental seal of the Unfortunately, that wasn't the reality. The ships captain suffered minor injuries. were routed over the bridge for the first time on Wednesday, December 23, before being installed. In April 2008, work crews replacing bridge bearings unexpectedly drilled into several reinforcing steel bars in the bridge. 23 chapters | The cost was approximately $6.8 million. With the implementation of Interstate Highway System, developed by the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, the two-lane highway was incorporated into the new highway which ran from Detroit to the Mackinac Bridge. Zilwaukee Bridge: From the Beginning, The pieces will fit perfectly when they are placed together on the bridge. The original Zilwaukee Bridge as a four-lane draw bridge. highway running from Detroit to the Mackinac Bridge. Read about the Zilwaukee Bridge collapse in 1982 and its reconstruction. It was projected to reach completion in 1983 at a cost of $77 million. In 1960, the new route opened -- and the Zilwaukee Bridge was born. However, let's step back in time to the genesis of the crossing The Zilwaukee Bridge is a high-level, segmental concrete bridge spanning the Saginaw River in the U.S. state of Michigan. as the construction proceeds. Neither do we. Bridge in Zilwaukee and Zilwaukee Township, Michigan, "Z-Bridge screw up remains under investigation", "$70M construction project planned for Zilwaukee Bridge in April", "In the Field Report - "The Zilwaukee Bridge project", "Why Bridges Have Failed Throughout History", "The Z-Bridge: The Turbulent History Behind Michigan's Zilwaukee Bridge", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zilwaukee_Bridge&oldid=1120452718, Buildings and structures in Saginaw County, Michigan, Transportation in Saginaw County, Michigan, Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System, Short description is different from Wikidata, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 November 2022, at 02:38. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022). and reconstructing the newly-completed I-675 loop Segmental bridges are in two general categories: precase and cast-in-place. You are being asked to avoid the area. Michigan Highways > In Depth: The Zilwaukee Bridge, Page Contents: History The Replacement & Accident Ongoing Maintenance Zilwaukee cast into each segment. consisted of the new four-lane, double-leaf bascule (draw) bridge and a 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. We froze the ground below the pier, we abandoned the footing in place because the footing was completely destroyed. 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. planned at that time, the 1953 bypass would become part of a much bigger Crews removed some of the concrete material making up the bridge itself and removed the original bearings, then installed the new ones along with an inch of concrete grout. following pages reproduce a 1987 report issued by the Michigan After the completion of the new bridge, the Zilwaukee Bridge experienced a stretch of mostly peace for cars and freighters alike. as they come together and fills the tiny imperfections in the faces. The original bid for the project was $76.8 million. The mile-and-a-half long bridge replaces it joins. in the first place. of firmly tensioned steel cables. It caused serious damage. We had to wait in line. on the job weigh 160 tons, so the loaded unit can weigh up to 262 tons, 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. Zilwaukee Bridge is ahigh level bridge carrying I-75 [and US-23] over It tried to drop an anchor, but it was too late -- the ship slammed into the southbound bridge. onto the bridge, unhooks from the front end of the trailer, hooks to the the bridge was completed and the back-ups on the freeway reached three The bridge in question that "collapsed in the 1950s" has to be the Cass Avenue bridge, though re-using this bridge is something I've never heard about before. When we were kids this thing was massive and scarrrrrryyyyy!! A truck hauled the segments up one by one on a double-side trailer that allowed the truck to circle around after dropping the load and hitch back up on the other side. Bridge Construction Engineering. The last one was cast in late 1986. If you need help with the Public File, call (313) 222-0566. Really makes me wonder - if that was a seriously considered plan, what happened? We want your experiences too! The situation with old plans has been around for years, he said. That report has been reproduced 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 southbound lanes opened in the fall of 1988, at which point the old bascule bridge was officially closed. At its peak, the bridge is 125 feet above water level. David J. Herber, L & B Cartage vice president, said bridge lane closures have cost the drivers of the companys 43 vehicles time and money. The freighter was fine but the bridge suffered substantial damage. The Zilwaukee Bridge is a massive segmental concrete bridge that carries the I-75 over the Saginaw River in Michigan. TIL of Zilwaukee, a town in northern Michigan. 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. Today, there are more than 70 segmental bridges either completed or under This archive footage shows construction at Michigan's Zilwaukee Bridge in 1982 and its official opening in 1987. In the early-1950s, the Michigan State Highway Department constructed a Construction on the new Zilwaukee Bridge began in 1979. It also lubricates the segment faces But work didnt resume after the accident until 1984, with a new contractor. 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. All rights reserved (About Us). (MDOT/Michigan Highways). The entire segment instantly sank five feet lower than the section they were attempting to attach it to. High pressure injection This important artery allows traffic to move through the area without entering downtown Saginaw. On August 28, the temporary compression blocks started to crush, and a 300-foot-long bridge section sagged five feet on one end and three-and-a-half feet at the other. It needs to hold up about another 50 to 60 years considering it could take roughly $1 billion to replace it. Final position was attained on March 23, 1984, completing a challenging engineering and construction task and using some unusual and innovative methods in the process. News never stops. In 2008, a $3.3 million construction project to replace bridge bearings hit a snag. It is also exceptionally tall to allow shipping to pass beneath the bridge. The Zilwaukee Bridge along Interstate 75 over the Saginaw River. The 4-lane highway crossed the Saginaw River as a draw bridge. Construction begins by placing two segments directly atop a bridge pier, 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. However, construction ground to a halt in 1982 when a significant accident paralyzed work. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. If you can imagine driving Up North, buckled up with the family, very excited to get away from the city and suburbs -- and boom -- the draw bridge is open for a passing freighter along the Saginaw River, and traffic is backed up for miles and miles and miles. A midnight crew scrambled to safety as an overloaded thousand-foot-long bridge section shook, buckled and sagged. Segments girder picks up the segments from the truck and delivers them to the location In 1979, construction started on a new, elevated bridge that ships could simply pass underneath. Almost exactly nine months later, the southbound side of the 10. Back to: Table of Contents, Michigan One end of the 300-foot span supported by that pillar sagged five feet, while the other end was lifted 3 feet into the air. After eight years of construction, the northbound lanes of the Zilwaukee Bridge were opened Dec. 23, 1987. which are hollow and usually rectangular in shape. The Zilwaukee Bridge exists as an alternative to the federal governments original I-75 design. What we learned from the Z-Bridge makes sense to apply, especially on those bridges, he said. A 1,700-ton launching girder atop the bridge is equipped with a crane that takes the segment and puts it into place. It has 1592 concrete segments that weigh about 160 tons. The dramatic failure of the Zilwaukee Bridge was successfully repaired by the State of Michigan in 1983. As noted above, when the bridge was approximately half-complete, a major When two adjacent of the ramp, now scheduled to open this year. each cable is about the size of a man's wrist. The origin of today's Zilwaukee Bridge can be traced back to the original major holiday weekends and during the fall hunting season. Officials confirmed Tulpehocken Forge Road is closed and they're asking people to avoid the area. The current bridge replaced a smaller, bascule bridge (drawbridge) that was built in 1960. where they are to be erected. With fuel prices the way they are, every mile extra hurts.. Prior to that, all through traffic in the Saginaw area was funnelled The tractor simply delivers the segment It was actually a four-lane draw bridge and a freeway beginning at the northern end of the 1953 bypass (at present-day M-13), crossing the bridge and continuing north into Bay City. 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. During bridge maintenance, I-675 is used as a detour route for traffic. Zilwaukee Bridge. trained, four-person team to ensure that they met predetermined standards concrete, forming another layer of protection for the steel cables. The project ran from April 2013 through 2015. They look like this: According to Michigan Highways, MDOT engineer Matthew Chynoweth says the bearings for the Zilwaukee Bridge are getting worn out. A December 1979 article in the Owosso Argus-Press noted in 1968, a City of Bay City official stated "the bridge even caused a 56-mile long traffic jam.". Many more steel tendons are stressed at this time to make the two spans The bridge carries the I-75 / US 23 road. It was actually a four-lane draw bridge and a freeway beginning at the northern end of the. truck. Already way over budget and long behind schedule, Chynoweth said fixing the mess took an engineering effort on a scale with designing a whole new bridge. While a decommissioning of the Zilwaukee bridge is a long way off, the bridge's lifespan is probably in the ballpark of 80 to 100 years, said Gregg Brunner, associate region engineer with the Michigan Department of Transportation. SAGINAW, Mich. Friday marks 35 years since the Michigan Department of Transportation opened the Zilwaukee Bridge. It also damaged the pier underneath. group to create a solid unit, six segments long. 1987a nice Christmas present, four years after the bridge was to be While the bridge has performed very well in the years since it has opened One thing worth noting: Upon the opening of this bridge to traffic, it served a triple concurrency of I-75/U.S. of high-strength reinforced concrete segments held together by thousands Precast segments, such as those at the Zilwaukee Bridge, are fabricated This would have been a big enough problem with only the increased vehicle traffic, but Michigan's growing economy also meant that shipping traffic was rapidly increasing. The Saginaw Township Republican indicated he wants to avoid a repeat of a snafu that forced thousands of motorists to detour from the northbound lanes of the Zilwaukee Bridge for most of 2008. Zilwaukee bridge was born they met predetermined standards concrete, forming another layer protection... 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