New Decking for Norman Street Bridge
A key bridge connecting two parts of the City of Saginaw has been repaired and now provides safe travel for motorists
Norman Street, in the northeastern portion of the City, runs east and west between Farwell Drive and Outer Drive north of I-675. It is the only local bridge in the City that crosses over a roadway instead of a waterway.
The bridge was constructed in 1971 to cross over Veteran’s Memorial Parkway and connect two residential areas of the City.
“This is the only locally-owned bridge in Saginaw that goes over another road, not over a waterway,” Louis Taylor, P.E., the project engineer and manager for the City of Saginaw, said. “It is a key crossing for public safety and connects the two sides of Veterans Memorial Parkway.”
Per state and federal transportation regulations, bridges are inspected every two years for structural deficiencies and damage. Spicer Group has performed bridge inspections for the City of Saginaw for more than a decade and found that age, weather, and motorists had taken their toll on the Norman Street Bridge.
“The bridge was getting to be in such poor condition, that we were looking at it every year, and then once every six months,” Dan Zeddies, P.E., Spicer Group’s Project Manager said. “The bridge was starting to get in really bad condition.”
Before Construction.
During this time, the City applied to the Michigan Department of Transportation for local agency funding to help pay for a project to repair the bridge’s deficiencies and replace the deteriorated decking.
A few months before that funding was approved, the bridge was closed in June of 2019 due to the safety concerns.
“The reason it had to be closed was there was deterioration of the bridge deck and beam ends,” Travis Hare, P.E., the assistant project manager for the City of Saginaw said. “You could see Veterans Memorial Parkway through the decking of the bridge. It was not safe for people to travel over.”
The City hired Spicer Group to design a project that would demolish the existing deck of the bridge, perform any necessary repairs needed, and reconstruct the new decking, rather than replace the entire bridge structure.
Norman St. Bridge deck before the replacement.
New concrete deck, approaches and guardrail.
“Structurally, the bridge is sound,” Taylor said. “There is nothing structurally wrong with the abutments, the piles, or the footings. It is not settling, it is not leaning, it is not sinking. The problem was with the deck, which sees all the wear and tear with weather, expansion, contraction, and constant flexing with the loads on it. It is going to wear first and take the abuse. We wanted to replace the tires, and not the whole car.”
After nearly a year of the bridge being closed to traffic, construction started in May of 2020. Concrete and asphalt were demolished from the bridge’s steel structure, which was then sandblasted, repaired, and repainted. Expansion joints on the bridge were replaced, minor heat straightening and beam-end repairs were done, along with minor patching on the bridge’s diaphragms.
Once the structure was repaired, a new bridge decking was constructed, with proper drainage, new side walls, and new barriers. Construction was substantially complete, and the bridge was reopened to travelers in August of 2020. Spicer Group was responsible for survey, maintaining traffic, applications and permitting, construction inspection, and administration on this project as well.
“From a driver’s standpoint, you’re seeing a brand new bridge,” Taylor said. “We’re back to a good bridge that is on a regular schedule for inspections, not an accelerated inspection schedule. We expect another 25 years at least out of the structure.”
Taylor said Spicer Group was supportive and communicated efficiently during the project.
“We had some questions that were responded to immediately, which is very important during construction,” Taylor said. “It is very critical we get a timely response. They were excellent to work with.”