The Cornell Rd. Bridge is Officially OPEN!!!

Yep, it’s true!  The Cornell Rd. Bridge that was condemned and closed on March 16th, 2020 was officially opened for traffic Monday, October 19th, 2020.  That’s 7 months, start to finish.  7 months!  Is that not just absolutely amazing?  Well, I think it is!  Especially when you consider there are bridges in Jackson County and throughout Michigan that have been closed awaiting repairs or replacement for well over a year.  So I guess you could say those of us in Concord Township, and especially those of us who rely on Cornell Rd. as a major piece of our transportation architecture, are well and truly blessed!

Throughout the irritation the bridge closure brought, I fielded a lot of calls concerning it, some critical, some frantic, some inquisitive and some not.  I did my level best to field all of them and I passed those that were beyond my level of technical acuity on to Mr. Jim Cole, of JCDOT, who always responded immediately.  He not only kept the flow of information going, I credit him with speed and efficiency of getting this project funded and completed in record time.  I’ve worked with a lot of people in my life, thousands really, but few achieve the level of competence and comradery  he does.

Ever since Jim told us he had procured funding for and was ordering our dandy new bridge, many people had called or emailed to congratulate or thank me for getting the bridge replaced.  Trust me, it’s always nice to have people say positive things to you, but I gotta be honest here: I never lifted a shovel of dirt, drove a nail or turned a bolt to get that job done – not one.  I am an innocent bystander.  All of the credit for this goes directly to Jim Cole and the staff at JCDOT, without whom we’d still be looking for a place to ford the river.  All of the kudos and congrats go to them, and if we’re smart, we’ll make certain they know how much we appreciate their efforts on our behalf.

So why not take 20 seconds out of your busy day and click here: Jim Cole to send him a simple “Thank You” for his efforts on our behalf.  Especially if you live on Cornell Rd!!!

And finally, I have attached a few pictures of our recently paved bridge, but the scenery is gummed up with a bunch of orange barrels.  They will be removed as soon as the new guardrails are installed in the next week or so, but they are needed to protect our Jim-dandy new bridge from potential damage.   BTW:  They are thinking of calling that style of bridge the “Jackson Arches”.  What do you guys think?  Should we give it a name?  If so – what?