U.S. Rep. John Dingell has two words to describe Ann Arbor's Stadium Boulevard bridges

John Dingell

"It's probably a little bit of an understatement," he told AnnArbor.com in an interview while in town Monday. 

Dingell has been in close talks with Ann Arbor city officials about going after federal grant funding to fix those two bridge spans. They're hoping the nearly $23 million project receives funding in the next round of federal stimulus dollars for transportation projects. 

"We're going to do everything to make sure that it does," Dingell said. "There's tremendous competition for these grants, but Ann Arbor has done a superb job in preparing for the grant application and putting together the grant application, so I'm hopeful that it will work well." 

The issue of the East Stadium Boulevard bridges was discussed during a work session of the Ann Arbor City Council Monday night. 

Homayoon Pirooz, head of the city's project management unit, gave a progress report that began with a photo showing the span over South State Street. A series of beams for two traffic lanes have been physically removed to reduce the risk of concrete chunks falling on cars. Only two of the four lanes are in use at this point. 

The two bridge spans were constructed in 1917 and 1928. By today's standards, both are considered functionally obsolete.

City officials also cite problems with low and narrow clearances, narrow traffic lanes, lack of bike lanes, and little or no sidewalk space.

Pirooz said the span over State Street has a federal sufficiency rating of 2 out of 100. He said the city has been trying to get grant funding to fix the bridge for the last five years. With little luck, the city scaled back the scope of the project last year and began going after stimulus dollars.

When those dollars didn't come through in the last round of funding, Pirooz said the city could have to tap out its local streets funds to pay for the repairs on its own starting next spring. 

Pirooz said the city still has several options for state and federal grant funds, though. With the plan in place and the work done so far, Pirooz said he's confident construction can begin in spring 2011 once funding is in place. The work would take about 18 months. 

The Stadium Boulevard bridges were the subject of discussion at the Ann Arbor City Council Monday night.

Pirooz presented an updated project funding schedule, showing the city is hoping for $9.5 million in federal grants and $3 million from the Michigan Department of Transportation. The city would chip in $7.2 million from its street reconstruction millage, $509,000 from the major street fund and $319,000 from the alternative transportation fund. 

Covering the remaining balance, $957,000 is proposed to come from the city's water funds, $1.395 million from stormwater funds, and $113,000 from sanitary sewer funds.

The city already has spent more than $1.6 million planning the project, which is part of the $23 million total cost. The remainder of the costs will be paid now through fiscal year 2013-14, city officials are proposing.

No decisions were made Monday night.

The city's street reconstruction millage has been tapped in the past to pay for major bridge projects, covering about $12.1 million of about $41.2 million in costs.

That includes a $3 million replacement of the Fuller Road Bridge in 1994, a $5.96 million rehabilitation of the Huron Parkway Bridge in 2000, a $28.2 million reconstruction of the Broadway bridges in 2004, a $1.62 million rehabilitation of the Eisenhower Parkway Bridge in 2005, and a $1.35 million painting of the Huron Parkway Bridge in 2007.

Council Member Sandi Smith asked Monday night whether the University of Michigan, which will benefit from the Stadium bridges replacement project, has been asked to help. City Administrator Roger Fraser said the city has asked, but the university hasn't been forthcoming.

Sue McCormick, the city's public services area administrator, said should the City Council decide it wants to move forward with the project absent grant funding, it will take nearly every local dollar available for streets. She said the city has been careful with spending street millage funds in recent years with the Stadium bridges project on the horizon. 

Some have suggested that the city complete the repairs in stages. But Pirooz said it would cost about $3.6 million more to take on each of the bridge replacements as standalone projects. Pirooz said an at-grade crossing also is not an option the city is considering. One reason is the increased risk of traffic crashes, but he said it also would be more costly over the 75-year life of the bridges. He also said the Ann Arbor Railroad is opposed to the at-grade option at the railroad tracks. 

And due to the proximity of the two bridges, it is impractical to maintain a bridge over the railroad tracks and build a new four-way intersection at Stadium and State.

City officials said the new bridge spans would be wider and longer, accommodating all means of travel. It would include on-street bike lanes, sidewalks and stairs. The project also would include the replacement of storm sewer, raw water transmission lines and some sanitary sewer. There would be retaining walls, minimizing right-of-way needs, with appropriate railings and lighting, as well as restoration of disturbed areas, including portions of Rose-White Park. 

Pirooz presented a chart Monday night showing the city's pavement conditions. In 2009, 77.2 percent of the city's major roads were rated in good or satisfactory condition, 19.4 percent fair, 2.2 percent poor and 1.2 percent very poor. In the same year, 92 percent of the city's local roads were rated good or satisfactory, 7 percent fair, 1 percent poor and 1 percent very poor. 

Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari is expected in Ann Arbor Friday for a meeting that will focus on a grant application for replacing the Stadium Boulevard bridges. He's also expected to take a field trip to get a first-hand look at the crumbling structures.



Dingell helped arrange the visit.

"We're busy generating the kind of political support the department insists on and also working very hard to show that it is going to confer the kind of economic benefit that is needed, including creation of the number of jobs that we have to have here," he said. 

Dingell, D-Dearborn, said he also is working on championing the Ann Arbor-to-Detroit commuter rail project, which has seen setbacks in recent weeks due to a lack of federal funding.

"It is an urgent need," Dingell said. "It will save a huge amount of energy, take a lot of cars off the road, make it much easier for my people, and improve the quality of life. In addition to that, it will mean that no longer will we have some of the terrible traffic that you can see here on the roads between the two cities, and it will help with economic development." 

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.