[Toll Bridge Facts editor: The Wayne County Bridge closed on Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9 for non-emergency scheduled maintenance. There were no major traffic delays during the two day closure period. The County Bridge reopened to vehicle traffic at 5 p.m. on November 9.]
County bridge to close this weekend
By Jim Kasuba
Heritage Newspapers
November 7, 2008
Motorists take note. If you're heading to Grosse Ile this weekend, you'll have to take the toll bridge.
The Wayne County-owned free bridge will be closed starting at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow and will remain closed to traffic until 5 p.m. Sunday for nonemergency maintenance.
The free bridge had been closed for repairs for several months in 2007, which meant all vehicles coming onto or leaving the island had to use the toll bridge. For the most part, things went smoothly, with the exception of the first day of the free bridge's closure.
Massive traffic backups extended into Riverview, requiring the city to send police for traffic control duties to ensure public safety. A similar situation occurred during a shorter shutdown in 2004. The matter resulted in a lawsuit in which the city sued Grosse Ile Bridge Co., owner of the toll bridge, in an effort to recoup more than $71,000 for expenses incurred during those free bridge closures.
The city lost that lawsuit and in August decided not to appeal the court's decision.
This weekend's closure originally was scheduled for last weekend, but a spokesman for the bridge's owner said the company wasn't given enough advance notice.
Greg Karmazin, the bridge company's director of community and government relations, told the Wayne County Department of Public Services the company could not accommodate the county's request for the toll bridge to handle all the vehicle traffic to and from Grosse Ile last weekend.
"The GIBC is under contract with a professional painting company that is in the process of finishing work to clean and paint the superstructure of the toll bridge," Karmazin wrote in an e-mail to Wayne County DPS. "The painters are scheduled to work this weekend and it is necessary to close one lane of traffic while they are on the bridge."
Karmazin said operating one lane of traffic across the toll bridge with the entire traffic volume that normally crosses both bridges would result in delays that customers and local governments might find unacceptable.
He said painters could not reschedule their work because seasonal changes in weather conditions provide a very limited time to finish this contractual work that has been going on for several months.
Secondly, Karmazin said the company would prefer to have the Coast Guard implement restrictions on opening the toll bridge to marine vessels similar to those in place during the free bridge closure in 2007. He said marine vessels traveling through the toll bridge during high-volume traffic periods would result in unacceptable delays.
Lastly, Karmazin expressed concern that 3 days notice was not enough time to adequately notify Grosse Ile residents and businesses of a planned closure of the county bridge of this duration.
In an Oct. 29 electronic newsletter that went out to island residents and other customers, Karmazin urged them to contact the township board, saying that Supervisor Kurt Kobiljak has the authority to ask the county to reschedule a non-emergency closure.
The next day another newsletter went out, saying that the bridge company appreciated the strong response from readers.
"Yesterday (Oct. 29), the GIBC attended an emergency meeting at Township Hall with officials from the county and township which was organized by Grosse Ile Police Chief Bill Barron," Karmazin said in the newsletter. "It was encouraging to hear during this meeting that township officials shared many of the same concerns that the GIBC expressed in our Oct. 29 e-mail."
Karmazin said that township officials and the company agreed that residents, businesses and visitors must have adequate advance notification about nonemergency free bridge closures to minimize potential traffic delays and to protect public safety.
Company officials said that since the maintenance work the county plans to perform can only be done during good weather conditions, it is possible that the closure could be rescheduled.
