East Stadium Bridges preliminary designs topic of meeting Tuesday

Earlier this month, five beams were removed from the bridge over South State Street.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

One noticeable change since that October meeting is the removal of five beams this month on the bridge over South State Street.

Planning for the replacement of the East Stadium bridges over South State Street and the Ann Arbor Railroad originally began in 2007 as part of a larger project. City officials have estimated the work could cost $22.1 million.

Previous planning for the project included reconstruction of East Stadium west to South Main Street and bicycle and pedestrian improvements on South Main from East Stadium to Ann Arbor-Saline Road.

But given the urgency of replacing the bridge over South State Street, the project has been scaled back to include only the bridge replacement and related improvements.

The East Stadium Boulevard Bridge over South State Street, built in 1917, and the bridge over the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks, built in 1928, are a few hundred feet apart.

According to the city, both bridges are "structurally deficient and functionally obsolete." In March, the city permanently reduced the traffic lanes on the bridges from four to two lanes due to safety concerns.

Visit www.a2gov.org/stadiumbridges for more details.