By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
The two bridges in the City of Otsego—one at Farmer Street and one at North Street—are inspected every two years by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
“All of our inspections have been in compliance and show no signs of deterioration,” Otsego City Manager Aaron Mitchell said.
But keeping the bridges is solid working condition is not an inexpensive endeavor.
“Bridge maintenance is incredibly expensive and a huge liability when you consider the potential catastrophe a failed bridge provides,” Mitchell said.
The City of Otsego recently received some good news on that front, as it was awarded a grant in excess of $650,000 through the Local Bridge Program.
That amount will cover 85 percent of the cost to conduct “necessary and needed” maintenance on both bridges.
The City is responsible for the remaining 15 percent.
“We are incredibly thankful for this grant,” Mitchell said. “With it, this would be a $650,000 expense that we would have to find somewhere within our own road funding.
“So, this grant will have a ripple effect across all road expenses going forward many years as it will help our local road fund balance significantly.”
According to Mitchell, Otsego had a few things going for it when it came to the grant process.
“We won this grant based on a few cues our engineer informed us about,” he said. “This included earning points for tying two projects together—the bridges on Farmer and North streets—and the 15 percent contribution match.
“We intentionally did (the 15-percent match) to earn the necessary points for a successful application.
Mitchell was told that Otsego had the highest point total in the Southwest region.
Due to the technical nature of the work done on the bridges, the maintenance won’t be completed until 2028.
“These repairs are planned out multiple years to get all of the work engineered before final plans are scheduled and made,” Mitchell said. “But (receiving the grant) allows for us begin the permitting process and start the engineering immediately.”
The work done on the Otsego bridges won’t be “anything terribly dramatic like replacing or changing the appearance of the bridges,” according to Mitchell.
Rather, the work will entail power washing, sanding and replacing some of the beams and concrete underneath the bridges.
The bidding of these projects is a fairly unique process, as MDOT will actually declare what is needed and how much as well as what the costs are by scheduling contractors.
“Bridge maintenance is one of those things that few ever think about, which makes it difficult to budget for major repairs or maintenance,” Mitchell said. “This grant helps the City a lot.”
