1921 CR 510 Bridge

1921 CR 510 Bridge. . The County Road 510 steel truss bridge over the Dead River owes its existence to the passage of a few key Acts by the Michigan Legislature in the early 1900's. The first of these acts was the Trunk Line Act of 1913, which provided for the laying out of a system of trunk lines in the state of Michigan. With this act, the state would pay a “reward” to the local units of government to build parts of the state road system. This system remained in place until it was acknowledged that building a road network of this type was of state-wide interest and the Aldrich Act of 1919 was passed. Under the Aldrich Act, the State of Michigan assumed full responsibility for maintaining and completing the system, with local units of government contributing aid back to the State of Michigan. Completing this work meant a much larger state organization was needed (in addition to help from county organizations). Agreements were immediately made with county organizations to take charge of construction contracts, and all work was to be done under the direction of the county's District Engineer., In December of 1919, an agreement (under the provisions of the Aldrich Act) was made between the Board of County Road Commissioners of the County of Marquette and the State Highway Department to build portions of state trunk line M-35 (also known as the Baraga Trunk Road). This road was designed to run northwesterly from Negaunee through the Huron Mountains of Marquette and Baraga Counties, then southwesterly along the Keweenaw Bay shoreline to L'Anse. In building the portion of this highway that ran through Negaunee Township, the State Highway Department was faced with the task of bridging the Dead River., In the fall of 1919 the state purchased a 265 ft. span through curved chord Pennsylvania Truss bridge which was being removed from its original site because it was one of two toll bridges crossing the Allegheny River within five hundred feet of each other and this bridge was considered unnecessary. The structure was shipped to Marquette County and was erected on site in 1921 under the supervision of Marquette County Road Commission Superintendent Kenneth I. Sawyer. Contractors involved with the project were R.L. Ericson, Gust Anderson, the C.M. Neeld Construction Company, and the Illinois Bridge Company. The total cost of the project was $80,710, with the State Highway Department paying for 77.5% and the Marquette County Road Commission covering the remaining 22.5%., The bridge remained a part of the M-35 corridor until 1939 when the State Highway Department officially cancelled the route due to complications with crossing the Huron Mountains. Once the M-35 project was cancelled, the bridge and portions of the road that were completed were then turned over to the local entities. It was at this time that the route became known as County Road 510. The bridge served the County of Marquette well for many years, being used as a connector allowing logging activities, residential development, and other economic activity such as tourism north of the Dead River. When a weight limit of 51 tons was placed on the bridge in the mid-1990's, many commercial vehicles were not able to use the bridge; a lengthy and costly detour route had to be used., In May of 2003, the bridge survived the Silver Lake Flood which was caused by a breach in the Silver Lake Dam. The water reached a level of two tenths of a foot below the bottom girder of the bridge and amazingly the structure escaped without harm. In the same year, the weight limit was reduced further to 40 tons making the need for a new bridge of even greater importance., After many years of planning and design, plans were finalized for a new bridge which would be located approximately 1,300 feet upstream from the steel bridge. The building of the new bridge came just in time as the weight limit on the steel bridge was lowered to 25 tons in May of 2009. This bridge weight limit shut off this route to almost all truckers in the area, including snowplows for the Marquette County Road Commission; the bridge itself had to be plowed with a pickup truck., The bridge is of historical significance as there is only one other similar structure in the state. For that reason, the steel bridge remains in its original location. The steel bridge can be viewed by looking to the east of the new crossing or by driving down to the end of the old County Road 510 approaches which are now known as County Road JWW and County Road JHH., 1921 Bridge Facts , . 271 feet long (abutment to abutment) , . 20.01 feet wide , . 10 feet above the water , . 1 span , . Total cost: $80,710 , . Open to traffic: 1921 , . Closed to traffic: 2010