Ann Arbor officials considering $22.1 million reconstruction of East Stadium Boulevard bridge spans

"The bridges are safe, but how much longer we can keep them open, that's a big question," Pirooz said.

Pirooz said 13 bridges in Ann Arbor need to be inspected every other year. The city sends its reports to the state, which comes up with federal ratings ranging from 1 to 100, with 100 being the best.

Pirooz said the 92-year-old bridge span over State Street has rating of 2, while the 81-year-old span nearby over the Ann Arbor Railroad has a rating of 61.5. Both are functionally obsolete, he said.

"I hope that the stars align for us and that we can move forward," said City Councilman Mike Anglin, D-5th Ward, expressing hope that the city will be successful seeking state and federal grants.

Pirooz said the city has developed a schedule that takes into assumption federal funding for the project, which calls for bridges with four lanes of traffic, bike lanes and sidewalks. The city would begin advertising for bids in July 2010, with construction lasting from November 2010 to July 2012.

In a best-case scenario, Pirooz said, the city will use about $2 million from its street reconstruction millage, and $20 million from state and federal grants. In a worst-case scenario, the city would pay the entire $22 million cost from its street millage.

Pirooz said if the city doesn't receive state and federal assistance and depletes its millage fund, it would have to eliminate 29 planned street resurfacing and reconstruction projects between 2010 through 2012. That would result in further degradation of city streets and increase maintenance costs, Pirooz said.

"It can seriously impact the condition of our streets, and that, for sure, will increase the cost of the maintenance," he said. "There will be more potholes."

Ann Arbor resident Libby Hunter sang an original song during tonight's public comment period, criticizing city officials for deciding to spend more than $50 million on an underground parking structure downtown while letting the Stadium bridge spans fall into disrepair.

"Glory, glory, hallelujah, mayor high-rise wants to sock it to you," Hunter sang, criticizing Mayor John Hieftje before concluding: "Another $50 million down a big hole in the ground, but he'll let the bridge fall down."

Pirooz said inspections this year have revealed further degradation of the bridge spans. The city has had to reduce lanes of traffic, increase inspections and put a plan in place in case of emergency bridge closures.

The city hired Northwest Consultants Inc. three years ago for $1.2 million to complete preliminary designs for the project. In March, with federal stimulus dollars being announced for shovel-ready projects, the city asked the consultant to expedite design of the bridges.

“We did allocate money for the bridge in 2006 but, in the process of planning, the project was so big that we couldn't come to consensus,” Anglin said. “Now we're on a different design to get the two bridges built and move forward because of safety reasons.”

Pirooz said the city spent about $31 million on reconstruction of the Broadway bridges about eight years ago. He said the city was able to get $18 million in state and federal grants for that project, which is similar in many ways to the Stadium bridge project.

Ryan Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2529 or ryanstanton@annarbor.com.