Bagley Street Bridge Construction Slows Due to Limestone, On Track to Reopen June 10

There’s been a couple of hiccups but the Bagley Street Bridge is still scheduled to be complete by June 10.

The crew recently came across some sections of limestone and that’s created a bit more work. “When you encounter solid limestone, it’s not like sand where you can just dig some of that out easily,” said Ryan Berge, managing director of the Alpena County Road Commission. “If the limestone can’t be removed easily, you have two choices. You can either chip it away or raise the pipe. All of that requires some additional planning and design.”

Some of the public has been vocal over the past delays to the bridge, but Berge said they want to make sure the bridge will be safe when it reopens. “We’re making sure that when this project is completed that it’s done properly, it’s going to function the way we want it to and all of that takes time,” he said. “So, we don’t want to just make hasty decisions on some of these redesigns.