Village Releases Official Bridge Update

Workers from Spartan Specialties, LLC, of Sterling Heights, spend the evening hours boring the micropiles that will form the foundation of the new Main Street Bridge, on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

The following is an update as of November 5, 2015 on the Main Street Bridge project in the Village of Manchester.

• Final plans were put out to bid and approved by MDOT for construction in early summer 2015 with the project completion date set to be mid-December. With this schedule, the bridge would not be starting under the ideal time frame of spring 2016 but instead mid-summer 2015. The goal was to get the bridge under construction. With half of the lanes already shut down, concern was growing that weight limits would continue to be reduced.
• Work started a couple weeks late as the contractor had to finish another project before beginning. The schedule then fell further behind when the sub-contractor installing the pilings was also held up on another job.
• Additionally, the sub-contractor has encountered difficult sub-soils which have added at least three months to the project. When sub-soil testing was done during the design phase, it was not anticipated to cause issues. Due to the sensitive working area, however, i.e.: historic building foundations and the dam, additional vibration monitoring is being done during the work, which limits what type of drilling can be used. More staffing and equipment have been sought by the contractor and sub-contractor to no avail.
• We are now working with the firms involved to come up with a construction plan that will give the Village of Manchester the best product when the bridge is completed. With the December date not probable, we are working with all involved to finalize a schedule for the rest of the work to be done on the project. The new schedule will also have to reflect the winter weather conditions which may push off completion to late spring.
• This schedule will hopefully be established within the next month.

We understand this is not the report everyone would like to see on the Main Street Bridge project. It continues to be a great inconvenience for the residents. Its effect on the business community has been, in some cases, drastic. It is important to note that we are actually getting the work done within a grant process that is very favorable to the taxpayers. We are fortunate to be going forward with many infrastructure projects and all of it does not always go as planned, especially when dealing with underground issues.

We are confident that the decisions made for these projects will be the correct ones for the community long after the inconvenience is over.

--Jeff Wallace, Village Manager

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.