Relief is coming for drivers who travel I-75 over the Rouge River Bridge but the fix won't begin until 2017.
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced plans to replace the bridge deck that has required $1.2 million in repair costs since 2011. The price tag for the deck replacement project is $80 million.
"It lasted what we would expect it to last," said Matthew Chynoweth, deputy region engineer for MDOT and the man overseeing the project. "It has provided the service life we would expect based on what we've seen throughout the state."
Construction is expected to begin in the winter of 2017. The project is anticipated to last two years.
The bridge was built in 1967 at cost of $25 million. MDOT officials said that replacing the bridge deck should extend the life of the bridge for another 60 years before the entire bridge would need to be replaced.
The I-75 bridge over the Rouge River is the largest bridge in Michigan, in terms of surface area. 37 million vehicles cross the span each year, according to MDOT.
