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This bridge is in a small valley and you do not see it until you are on top of it, and it is a welcome surprise. It is an example of Michigan's unique curved-chord through girder bridge. Built to the 90 foot plan style, this bridge has the characteristic taller girder than shorter plans. The curved portion of the girders have vertical stripes painted on them all the way across. The reasoning for these stripes is unclear, perhaps it is decorative, or it could be some sort of old reflecting paint that has long since faded. The bridge deck appears to have been resurfaced, perhaps when the rest of this section of Griswold Road was redone. The girders of the bridge are a sad sight, however. The concrete is spalling severely in several spots. This is still an interesting bridge, and it is be one tough bridge, because there is no weight limit posted despite this deterioration! The repair of the deck was a nice gesture, but without repairing the beautiful girders, which give the bridge both historic and aesthetic value, there is not much point. Even with these repairs, the bridge continues to deteriorate visually. The bridge should have been restored like the 7 Mile Road Bridge, which included adding concrete to spalled areas, paying attention to the original shape and design of the girder, and also applying a protective paint on the girders.
The Griswold Road Bridge appears to have replaced a metal truss bridge. The remains of steel caissons still sit under the bridge today. In 1925, when this bridge was built, the truss bridge would have been considered anything but historic at that time. There also was another metal truss bridge on Griswold Road west of this bridge, but it was demolished and replaced in 1990.
The below two photos of the bridge are special because they were taken in March, 1991 with a film camera twelve years before this website was created. Note that the vertical stripes were still on the bridge, and were much more visible.
This bridge is tagged with the following special condition(s): Unorganized Photos
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