Talking Michigan Transportation
The Talking Michigan Transportation podcast features conversations with transportation experts inside and outside MDOT and will touch on anything and everything related to mobility, including rail, transit and the development of connected and automated vehicles.
Talking Michigan Transportation
Herculean effort results in a new bridge after historic mid-Michigan flooding
On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation about the extraordinary efforts that culminated with the opening of a new and improved bridge near Edenville.
Jack Hofweber, manager of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Mt. Pleasant Transportation Service Center, reflects on the heavy rains and floods that breached dams and ravaged roads and bridges in several counties in 2020, just weeks after many people went into lockdown because of the pandemic.
In what meteorologists concluded was a 500-year event, the flooding that resulted from up to 7 inches of rain in Midland, Saginaw and surrounding counties damaged homes and property, forced more than 10,000 people to evacuate and most spectacularly destroyed one power dam and severely damaged another.
One year after the floods, an MLive drone video captured the changes.
On Monday, Oct. 7, MDOT Director Bradley C. Wieferich, elected officials, contractors and labor groups celebrated the opening of the new bridge, as highlighted in this video.
With climate change and sustained high water creating headaches for shoreline communities across the state and officials from several state agencies planning for more, the challenge of planning and building more resilient transportation infrastructure, especially during an ongoing period of underinvestment, remains acute.
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Hello, welcome to the Talking Michigan Transportation Podcast. I'm Jeff Cranston. It's been nearly four years since heavy rains soaked much of mid-Michigan and caused some major dams to breach near Midland and several roads and bridges were heavily damaged or even washed away in what was considered at least a 500 year event. The rapid currents were especially catastrophic in the Tittabawassee River, also in what's called the Tobacco River that flows out of Wixom Lake near Edenville and MDOT. Engineers had to move quickly to put an emergency contract in place and that allowed for restoring bridges on very busy US-10, but also for the subsequent work that needed to be done, including installation of a temporary bridge on M-30, right at a spot where the road links Gladwood and Midland counties. We know that, with climate change and sustained high water creating headaches for shoreline communities around the state, we're gonna continue to wrestle with more of this. There's only so much you can do to build for resiliency. A lot of people are talking about that around the country, but today I wanna talk about celebrating completion of a brand new bridge at M30, where I mentioned it links the two counties. I'll be speaking with someone who kind of oversaw the people who oversee the project out of the Mount Pleasant Transportation Service Center and about everything that's happened in the last four years since then to help restore that infrastructure. So I hope you enjoy the conversation. So I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Jeff Cranson:So I'm with Jack Hoff Weber, as mentioned earlier, who is the Transportation Service Center Manager in Mount Pleasant, so his service center area includes Midland and Gladwin counties, where the flooding was most severe in 2020, as I mentioned earlier, a 500-year event that it almost fades into history because it also came right at the beginning of the pandemic and during lockdowns and people have so many other things going on in that period.
Jeff Cranson:If you weren't directly affected, you might not know how severe that flooding event was. But the main reason I wanted to talk to Jack is because this week we celebrated the replacement of the M30 bridge, probably one of the most severely damaged, washed away structures because of those floods, and in the meantime, they did an innovative thing in installing a temporary bridge so that the people that rely on that road could still get back and forth during the period that the other bridge was getting ready to be built, and it's really just a testament to how people across the country, especially DOTs, can marshal resources and get things done with the help of the federal government and federal relief. So, jack, thanks for taking time to do this. Before we jump right into it, why don't you talk a little bit first about your trajectory at MDOT and what it means to be a TSC manager?
Jack Hofweber:Yeah, being a TSC manager, really I work with the people. I try to be the conduit between the contractor and the businesses and the community. So when there is concerns or questions and I will be the person that will answer those, I many times go into the businesses as I'm traveling the roadways that are affected to our construction and talk with them. So really my role is to work with the legislators and the community, along with the contractors, of course.
Jeff Cranson:Yeah, so, yeah, so I mean, hence the name Service Center. The ultimate objective for you and your counterparts across the state is to serve, and so that's what this is all about. This is all about so, when people aren't as likely to walk into a transportation service center as they used to be in the days when you know you couldn't do anything online and obviously you can do a lot more now. So that necessitates and you've seen some of those transitions, having served in one TSC and then another now for several years but that necessitates more than ever trying to get out there and intentionally making those connections with people, right, yeah, that's a big part of my day is when I go out and visit job locations.
Jack Hofweber:I try to you know, when there's concerns with businesses I'll make a point to stop in, knock on the door and ask for the owners and even just speak with the workers, the people working there, and just explain what's happening. That goes a long way. Just a little outreach, telling what we're working on, what they can expect. It really helps with the project and the understanding of what's happening out there.
Jeff Cranson:Yeah, like everything, it's all about relationships.
Jeff Cranson:So that kind of brings us full circle.
Jeff Cranson:Marking this M30 bridge, which is a bridge on a two-lane state highway trunk line that links Midland and Gladwin counties not tremendously high in terms of traffic volume, but, like every road anywhere in the state, if it's your road, it's the most important road, and losing that bridge completely, I mean cut people off and businesses that were on each side of the bridge immediately and were used to having access and caused, you know, before the temporary bridge could be installed and during this period between the temporary bridge being removed and the permanent bridge being built, a half hour plus detour for a heck of a lot of people.
Jeff Cranson:And I found people to be incredibly patient, I think. First of all, they understood that it was a natural disaster that put us in this situation, but they seemed, you know, really understanding and really supportive of the department and the contractors who did the work and they were just like relieved when it finally opened. And I think a lot of that's due to being transparent and being open with them in those relationships. But can you talk about? You know what it meant and how things evolved from the time that these things happened until we got to?
Jack Hofweber:At this point, yeah, as you, as you stated, it really hit the community hard and if it's their roadway and their business on that roadway, it means everything.
Jack Hofweber:And we've had businesses that just opened up two years ago and now they're seeing a detour that is taking their customers away from them this summer.
Jack Hofweber:And so, with speaking with those businesses and seeing the impact, it was extremely important that each day mattered to get that detour off and open the bridge. Open to traffic in some capacities so that we no longer needed that detour was very vital and what I heard through the summer and through the last couple of weeks coming up to this bridge opening was that the tourist season you know they're getting into fall color tours and it was really important that they try to salvage that this year. And then you know we had a marina right there that was receiving boats for winterizing and, like you said, a 36 mile detour if you're coming from the south to get to that marina was very impactful for that business. So each day that we had it closed for detour was very impactful for these communities and we wanted to make sure that we could open that up as soon as possible because each day and hour mattered to these folks.
Jeff Cranson:So talk about the rest of the damage to transportation infrastructure. I know you transitioned to the Mount Pleasant TSC from the Bay City TSC in the midst of all this, but you were around. Obviously it's the same region. You were in touch with your colleagues that were dealing with it. So, I remember touring U. S. 10 shortly after the flooding with the director and the governor and they were already rebuilding lanes there and U. S us-10 is a much heavier traveled road and very important artery in that part of the state. But can you talk about all that went into that?
Jack Hofweber:Yeah, U. S. 10 was impacted, and immediately, just the day after, they're out there working on it and to getting that back open as soon as possible.
Jack Hofweber:I don't remember the exact time frame it took, but it was extremely quick to get U. S. 10 open because that was our main corridor. And once that was done, they had to also evaluate the bridges along M-30, along with all the other bridges, and the biggest impact was the M-30 over the Tobacco River, the one that we just opened up Monday. That went out in May May 19th of the storm, and then by March 12, 10 months later, we had a temporary bridge back up and running, which is an incredible feat to go ahead and put a bridge in that quickly. And then after that, we put in a permanent bridge, removed the old temporary bridge this year and put a new one in, and that took only six months. So we started that project this spring and now we've opened up with a brand new, bigger, better bridge to replace what was there before the flood. So all of this was in order to keep that corridor open, along with U. S. 10, M-30, get it back to where it was stronger before the floods.
Jeff Cranson:Yeah, and talk about what's different between this bridge and the one it replaced. I mean, the advantage of this kind of thing, obviously, is you know things now that maybe you didn't know when the M-30 bridge was built originally, but what kind of innovations and you know what's new about this one.
Jack Hofweber:Yeah, this bridge is about three feet higher than the old bridge and it is quite a bit wider. It's at least two to three times wider than the old bridge as far as the waterway width, way width and up on top where the cars drive it. It has full shoulders, along with two separated walkways or sidewalks on each side of the bridge that is separated by a barrier. So, that bridge will accommodate pedestrians, along with traffic and also the armoring. They put heavy riprap, which is heavy stone, to keep the water from eroding any of the area around the bridge. So, there's large rocks that you can see today. If you drive over it, you'll see the large rocks underneath and where the water will go to help protect and make this bridge last as long as possible.
Jeff Cranson:Yeah, it's one of the questions that came up on social media and I suspect these are people that don't live close by, live around there so they don't really know the lay of the land. But because those dams haven't been replaced and repaired, right now there's really only a trickle of water going underneath. But whenever the funding is found and the task force that's working on this is able to restore those dams and those impoundments, you know we expect that to be a key link for, you know, for navigation, for boats going forward right.
Jack Hofweber:Yes, yes. They'll be able to put again under clearance , the clearway. It'll be about, I believe, around 10 to 11 feet of area from the water surface to the bottom of the bridge so that our larger boats can get through, and that will accommodate more boat traffic once the water is restored and much wider than the old bridge, so there'll be much more room to navigate through there.
Jeff Cranson:Please stay tuned. We'll be back with more Talking Michigan Transportation right after this.
MDOT Safety Message:The Michigan Department of Transportation reminds you that when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, person or other object, it is a crash, not an accident. By reducing human error, we can prevent crashes and rebuild Michigan roads safely.
Jeff Cranson:So you've dealt, in your time in construction and various roles at the department with other emergency work, certainly after various kinds of disasters, whatever those could be, whether it involves a tanker truck fire or, you know, pavement heaving or something else. But did you ever oversee the?
Jack Hofweber:rebuilding of infrastructure.
Jack Hofweber:That was the result of this kind of devastation, of this magnitude. No, this is pretty much once in a lifetime for most of us. I was on the phone with our region leadership team while this was why the first dam broke and it was devastating. The whole team was just. We were completely impacted and we've never really experienced an impact like this in an area in Michigan. It was just, it was a unique event and hopefully we never having one like that again. We're still, you know, we're three years later, three and a half years later. We're still, you know, recovering and trying to get things back to normal.
Jeff Cranson:So, what do you think you learned along the way about?
Jack Hofweber:You know, dealing with emergency federal aid and emergency contracting and those kinds of things things well, uh, to start out, when, when it's emergency contracting, uh it we can, we do, have tools to get, get things moving and quick, quickly open as uh as soon as possible, which is wonderful, um unbelievable, like how we can, we can if, if there's a emergency failure of, uh a culvert or anything that closes down a roadway, we we have the ability to call in uh some contractors that evening or the very next day and and and talk about what we want fixed and they can provide a low a bid. We we usually pick the lowest bid. So we have the capabilities and the tools and a process to get some key infrastructures back up and running really quickly with our wonderful contractors we have in the area. So that is what we used here and in the beginning with the temporary bridge or what we've done on US 10. In some of these areas we were able to use that method and the other ones.
Jack Hofweber:We were able to secure some federal money to restore the bridges that we have. Now that take a longer-term fix. So this is a three-year, you know, from when this was built. When this went out, it was about three and a half years. We have a brand new bridge In a normal bridge project when we planned and designed to replace a bridge, it's usually around five to six years, so we were able to cut that time nearly in half with this current bridge that we just opened.
Jeff Cranson:I think one of the concerns at the time had to be you know, we were just into the Rebuilding Michigan bonding plan and the money that Governor Whitmer helped bring forward to fix a lot of major roads across the state, especially in the population centers. So was there a concern in the immediate aftermath of the flooding that a lot of the contractors were tied up and it was going to be hard to find somebody to do the work that quickly?
Jack Hofweber:Yeah, that's always a concern is one of the is the ability to have a contractor out there. But we had Anlon out there with the temporary bridge that installed it and then this time we got Hardman to put in the permanent bridge, so we did have different contractors look at it. We do have a pretty good supply of some contractors that we use that are very good in this area. So we're fortunate with the bridge contractors. They've been really good to work with and we hope that continues. But we did feel the impact of the price increases recently on this type of a bridge. Just that's something that we experience throughout the state is the overall increase in cost of projects. Yeah, and we were no exceptions to this project.
Jeff Cranson:Yeah, that was across the board. Inflation that affected everything, obviously from the Jupiter aligning with Mars to have a huge war in Europe at the same time the pandemic hit. So, yeah, that made a huge difference, although those prices have begun to stabilize is what I'm hearing. Yes, so the only other thing I think we should probably talk about is there's some confusion, like there often is. Yes, the inspectors did and had to work with the contractor, who's a sub to the aforementioned Hardman, who is the general contractor and one of the biggest bridge contractors in the state, but there was a problem with the pavement and that's going to have to be milled and redone. That's the asphalt leading up to the bridge on the south side. Is that right?
Jack Hofweber:Yeah, the south side of the bridge about 500 feet. Yeah, the south side of the bridge, about 500 feet. Only the top inch and a half layer failed our test. They failed the density and we required the contractor to remove at their own expense and repave it. But what was very, very important, that's something that we can do and still keep the roadway open so people won't have to use a 36-mile detour. So we chose to do that. We chose to open the bridge for the businesses so that they can continue with their customers to get to them, and we will be planning on doing that later on this week. It should take about a day, maybe two, to mill off the top only the top inch and a half and repave that, and this will be at the contractor's expense.
Jeff Cranson:Due to the failed testing results, so I think a lot of people don't know they hear vaguely about pavement warranties. It's one of the most misunderstood things, I think, in Michigan construction how rigorous the process is and how you know certainly you want good relationships with the contractors and you work with them and you get to know them and you all have a shared interest. But a lot of times accountability means having to have some difficult conversations and so talk about how that goes some difficult conversations and so talk about how that goes.
Jack Hofweber:Oh, that was very difficult. We do have a good relationship with the contractor and we don't want this to ever happen, but unfortunately things like this can happen. This is something that we test and measure. There's no subjectivity to it. It's either yes or no and it doesn't meet the parameters and we do have to sit down and have a tough conversation. Unfortunately, we feel bad that they have to come back and mill that off and resurface it, but in the end, it's what we need for this payment to last the years that we expect it to last. So we need to just and the contractor understands that and they accept that and it to last. So we we need to just, uh and we, and the contractor understands that and they accept that, and it's just, you know, unfortunate. It's just part of the doing business with a michigan michigan department of transportation roadway. They are very tight test testing parameters that we need to follow is.
Jeff Cranson:Is this kind of thing just just human error? Is it that simple?
Jack Hofweber:um, on this particular, I don't know the, the it, it just um, sometimes you know you're you've got a lot of moving parts, a lot of material coming together to make the top course and and when you do such a small batch, you you don't, you don't get a lot of time to to test it out, and so you're kind of you don't have much time to adjust anything. So it's not, it's hard to say if it's human error. I kind of doubt it. I think it's just mechanical. Things just happen and you know you're pulling stone out of a pile of stone and mixing it all together and sometimes it just doesn't work out. And I don't know the details, but our tests will find that. And after it's poured, after it's put down on the ground, that's when we really really know if it passes the test.
Jeff Cranson:And this wasn't really anything that was noticeable to the naked eye or to even a driver, but it would have. What basically you're saying is it would have exhausted its life sooner and you would have been out there sooner or later having to redo it.
Jack Hofweber:Yes, yeah, we would have had substandard materials and we want things when we leave, we want it to be exactly what we're paying for, to last as long as possible, and absolutely you can walk. I was walking on that asphalt yesterday and you wouldn't know the difference. It's the testing in the lab that will tell you if it meets the density or not.
Jeff Cranson:It's not anything that you can visually look at and see yeah, and it's not something you can inspect and test in the lab until it's done, so the timing is naturally going to be the way it was.
Jack Hofweber:Yeah, we normally won't find out until a few days later after it's placed. You just don't, you can't find out until after it's placed and they unfortunately have left can't find out until after it's placed and they unfortunately have left so real quickly.
Jeff Cranson:Um, another big one you have going in that same area. Um, and by that same area I mean, you know, sanford, edenville, I guess, um, you're gonna replace the and this is a much more involved job the m30 bridge over us10 next year.
Jack Hofweber:Yes, yeah, yes, we plan on replacing that next year. We're working on the final plans. For the most part, us 10 will be. The freeway will be remain open, with exception on some nights. We'll be removing the bridge above, so we'll be detouring US 10 at night for a few nights, using either Stark Road or some of the exits before and after to route people around. But again, this will be at night, slower impact for US 10. Otherwise it'll be open, but M30 will be detoured if you're going past US 10, either north or south. There'll be a signed detour route during that time and we'll be using US 10 Stark Road as the main detour.
Jeff Cranson:Well, thank you, Jack, for talking about all this, and congratulations again to you and your team for the quick work on this. I think, if I have it right, you were ahead of schedule still, even with the little bit of remedial work that has to be done right now.
Jack Hofweber:We're, we're pretty much we hit the schedule. We. We allowed some some time for some uh weather and all that, but yeah, we, we were very pleased with the um with being in the schedule. I wouldn't necessarily say we're ahead of schedule, but we didn't fall too far behind. We're right on schedule, which is a success.
Jeff Cranson:That sounds great. Thanks again for talking about it. I appreciate it.
Jack Hofweber:Thank you, sir.
Jeff Cranson:I'd like to thank you once more for tuning in to Talking Michigan Transportation. You can find show notes and more on Apple Podcasts or Buzzsprout. I also want to acknowledge the talented people who help make this a reality each week, starting with Randy Debler, who skillfully edits the audio, Jesse Ball, who proofs the content, Courtney Bates, who posts the podcast to various platforms, and Jacke Salinas, who transcribes the audio to make it accessible to all.