(WXYZ) — The Michigan Department of Transportation said more than 100 bridges are at risk of closing by 2035 if they aren't rebuilt and funding isn't passed by the state Legislature.
In a press release sent out Monday, the department said about 2/3 of MDOT's bridge inventory has "far exceeded its original design life."
"MDOT now faces the possibility of more than 100 trunkline bridges closing to traffic by the year 2035, impacting approximately 1.8 million drivers daily, if a comprehensive transportation funding package isn't secured," the release said.
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One of those areas is the massive I-96/M-39 interchange in Wayne County, which has 19 bridges that handle around 300,000 drivers per day.
According to MDOT, the westbound I-96 bridge over M-39 is at risk of closure, and it carries around 45,000 vehicles a day.
"The I-96 Southfield interchange is really at the center for industry, it's the center for a major public works facility, and for a lot of residents that live adjacent to it," City of Detroit Chief of Infrastructure Sam Krassenstein said in a statement. "So, for folks that need to go between 96 and Southfield, keeping those bridges open and in a state of good repair is really critical."
Within MDOT Metro's three counties, 180 bridges are anticipated to be in poor condition and 37 are at risk of closure by 2035, the department said.
"At this rate, by decade's end, nearly 50 percent of state routes, which carry 53 percent of total traffic and 80 percent of commercial traffic, will be in poor condition," said MDOT Director Bradley C. Wieferich. "Without additional investment, those projections will get worse."
The reason for the decline, according to MDOT, is that most of the state's bridges were built in the 1950s and designed with a 50- to 60-year service life.
