The orange barrels and “Road Work” signs still remain on East Austin Road just past M-52, but both lanes were reopened late last week.

The Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC) has announced the reopening of the Austin Road bridge in eastern Manchester Township, but shared on its blog last week that unfortunately, work on the Sharon Valley Road bridge in Sharon Township will not be completed until next spring, due to the unforeseen discovery of an artesian spring near the west abutment of the bridge, in mid-September.

“We do have a plan, but we won’t be able to complete the bridge replacement before winter,” they posted on October 25. “After much work, we now have devised an artesian remediation plan and our contractor has engaged specialty subcontractors to conduct the related work.”

WCRC expects these contractors to begin working sometime this month, but cannot move forward with any other part of the bridge reconstruction until this has been addressed.

“Considering typical timelines for the bridge work, and the limitations presented by winter weather conditions, completing the bridge and the road approach work will extend into the spring. Our hope is to get as much work as we can before winter and then come back in the spring,” according to the blog.

The bridge and road will remain closed during this interval. The road has been closed between Lamb and Prospect Hill Roads since July 2, with the detour causing significant delays and inconvenience for local residents. Completion of the project, originally scheduled for late October, is now listed as Spring 2019.

“We know this is disappointing news,” the blog concludes. “If you have any questions about this project, please contact Aaron Berkholz, the new project manager for this project. Aaron can be reached at (734) 327-6648 or berkholza@wcroads.org.”