# Officials call for a new bridge - Tin Bridge Pigeon River



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Officials call for a new bridge - Tin Bridge Pigeon River

10/08/2006 BY SHERI McWHIRTER [email protected]

WOLVERINE  Clear water runs beneath an old bridge in the Pigeon River Country State Forest, through rusty steel beams and below a single lane of wooden planks.

Tin Bridge is not in good shape, everyone agrees. 

Cheboygan County road commissioners want to remove the existing bridge and construct a new one across the Pigeon River. Now state officials must decide whether to allow a new bridge or recommend that the old bridge be removed altogether.

"We felt removal of the bridge was the preferred option and the reasons for that are it's not a heavily used road; it's a seasonal road and it's a single-lane bridge," said Brian Bury, natural rivers administrator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

There are other river crossings within the area, Bury said, and removal of the bridge would have environmental benefits, including reduction in both noise pollution and road sediments dropped into the river.

The initial proposal by the Cheboygan County Road Commission was for a two-lane bridge, including widening the road on either side of the river in wetland areas.

Luke Houlton, road commission manager, said the plan was scaled back to one lane to better accommodate restrictions that come with any construction project on a state-designated natural river, such as the Pigeon River. Just removing the bridge would not, however, be good for rural transportation in that area, he said.

"We think that whether there's a few cars or many, they need to be able to cross that river there," Houlton said.

The proposed project is funded with federal, state and local critical bridge dollars and is expected to cost about $330,000, plus about $35,000 for engineering, Houlton said.

"I expect we'll have a similar one-lane bridge, just with higher structural capacity," he said.

Brian Mastenbrook, DNR wildlife biologist, said the one-lane project likely will satisfy state rules for building a new bridge at the site. However, he said it would be more in-line with the state's management goals for both the Pigeon River Country State Forest and the Pigeon River to remove the current bridge and leave the two-track road alone.

Tin Bridge Road runs through Nunda Township in southern Cheboygan County.


----------

