Rochester Hills Calls Avon Bridge An ‘Emergency’ and Works to Speed Up Its Replacement

Not long ago, Avon Road was a quick and scenic thoroughfare over the Clinton River and through Rochester Hills.

Sometime within the next two days, the very heart of that road is expected to transform into a state of congestion.

The Avon Bridge, located east of Livernois, will be reduced to two lanes this week following an inspection by the Road Commission of Oakland County that found advanced deterioration on the bridge.

The bridge was set to be replaced, but not until 2013.

On the heels of the lane reduction — and looking ahead to the possibility that a future inspection could close the bridge all together — city officials said they will work to speed up the replacement and may have an answer as early as Friday as to whether that can happen.

“Things have been changing pretty quickly,” said Rochester Hills Director of Public Services Paul Davis. “The bridge is failing at an advanced deteriorating rate. This is not going to help congestion, it’s going to make it worse."

Davis explained that as soon as county workers can paint new markings on the roads — which could happen as early as today if weather permits — the westbound lane and left turn lane onto Livernois Road will be combined into one lane at the Livernois-Avon intersection. When the westbound traffic goes through the intersection, the eastbound traffic will be stopped to allow for the left turns.

Likewise for the eastbound traffic: When eastbound traffic moves through the intersection or turns left (north) onto Livernois, the westbound traffic at the bridge will be stopped. 

“I see total gridlock there," Rochester Hills City Council President Greg Hooper said in responding to a bridge update by Davis to council members earlier this week.

Livernois and Avon roads are maintained by the county road commission. In 2009, the commission closed the outside westbound lane that allowed for easy right turns onto Livernois. That stretch of Avon Road from the Livernois intersection east past Rochester Collegeis normally congested during peak commute times.

The planned reconstruction of the bridge is part of the state-funded Local Bridge Program.

If the city does get the go-ahead to speed up the timetable for the bridge reconstruction, it likely still would not happen this year. Davis said the city and road commission would split the cost of the bridge engineering design, which would likely be about $250,000. He said they already have a design consultant selected for the project. He predicted a spring 2012 start date.

“There's a full-court press on this,” Rochester Mayor Bryan Barnett said. “Right now we're screaming for help.”

Council member Nathan Klomp agreed. “It’s almost an emergency scenario,” Klomp said. “I don’t know what that would look like if one day they said the bridge was not passable.”

In addition to the lane closure, the weight limit of the bridge has been reduced: no more than 14 tons is now allowed (previous limits ranged from 17 tons for a single unit to 28 tons for a double -trailer unit).