Michigan |
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Engineer Anecdotes
"The two primary urban freeways in Grand Rapids are between 40 and 50 years old. They need to be replaced for physical, safety and capacity improvements. One is on the radar screen and the other isn't. The huge outlay to improve the second must be planned for at least 10 to 15 years in advance for planning and environmental impact reviews. We need to start planning and thinking about needs years in advance and prepare funding for that as well. Urban schools must be improved. The funding for these school improvements are difficult to obtain through millages. Alternative funding mechanisms for urban district improvements must be considered. Sewer separation work in the City of Grand Rapids is ongoing. The beaches at Lake Michigan still close a few times each year because of sewage overflows from Grand Rapids and other communities. Sewer and wastewater improvements are an ongoing need." - a civil engineer from Grand Rapids, MI
"Roads are so bad, visitors to the area have joked about "accidentally renting a car with square tires" on local radio stations. Local rivers are so polluted that many believe it very dangerous to have any physical contact with the water." - a civil engineer from Lincoln Park, MI
"We have had two lake communities recently decline the opportunity to build sorely-needed sewers because the cost of providing them was well over $10,000 per household, and whose rates, even with low-interest financing was over $100/month. We desperately need to do a better job of either communicating to people the benefits of public or community sewers or giving them enough grant funding to where the cost equals the perceivced value." - a civil engineer from Grand Rapids, MI
From the Headlines
The Middlebelt Road bridge over the Rouge River will be closed most of next summer as Oakland County tries to save it. The 35-foot bridge is beginning to crumble and county officials hope a $400,000 bridge deck replacement project will keep it standing for at least another decade. "It's an intermediary step in hoping to not replace the bridge," said Craig Bryson, a spokesman for the county road commission. "The concrete surface is in bad shape. It's cracked and falling apart." An estimated 20,200 cars travel over the bridge every day. Although the bridge's surface will be replaced, motorists still will have to navigate around the potholes on either side of the bridge. Detroit News 9/22/04
Michigan officials have spent more than $3 billion since 1997 on a 10-year effort to get 90 percent of the state's roads into good condition, but experts say little money will be left to build new roads or expand existing ones. That means motorists, particularly in urban and suburban areas, can expect little relief from gridlock. The scramble for money to address road maintenance and congestion will worsen over the next two decades. In southeast Michigan alone, the state Department of Transportation and county road commissions will need $70 billion over the next quarter-century to keep up with maintenance but will get just $40 million. Associated Press 9/29/04
The Bridge Street Bridge -- Belding's main thoroughfare -- will close three months ahead of schedule, because of safety concerns. Another hole in the deck was discovered, prompting the closure. The structure was determined to be unsafe after an inspection by boat. The inspection found that 30 percent of the deck is deteriorated. Grand Rapids Press 9/29/04
State and local agencies have spent billions of dollars to repair Michigan sewer systems over the last 15 years, but millions of gallons of raw sewage continue to flow into lakes and streams after heavy rainstorms and snow melts. Local officials say they're working to rehabilitate sewage systems that are crumbling due to age and overuse, but they concede they're not able to complete the work because they don't have the money to do it. Environmentalists say the financial challenges municipalities face will get worse in 2005 with Congress and the Bush administration trimming nearly $260 million from a federal loan fund that helps finance sewage system repairs and construction. Moreover, they fear that without the federal government putting sewer system repairs at the top of the agenda, water pollution from sewage overflows will continue unabated. The Bush administration proposed trimming the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which finances water infrastructure projects, from $1.3 billion in 2004 to $850 million in 2005. Congress pared back the cut, leaving the program at about $1 billion for fiscal 2005. To combat the overflows, local governments spent $47 billion nationally and more than $2 billion in Michigan to repair and rework their combined and sanitary sewer systems between 1989 and 2004. Combined sewers, which are generally older and found in large cities, carry storm water and domestic sewage in the same pipes. When too much storm water enters the system, the pipes overflow, sending raw sewage into lakes and rivers. Sanitary sewers have separate pipes for domestic sewage and storm water, but overflows do occur when pipes break or pumps aren't large enough. These overflows often result in basement backups. Raw sewage in local rivers or lakes poses a serious health threat, say environmentalists, noting that sewage overflows have closed dozens of beaches along the Great Lakes in the last year. To keep the work moving forward, especially in tight budget times when cities are often forced to choose between the fire department and sewer overhauls, the public needs to understand the challenge ahead. Booth Newspapers 11/22/04
Mary Zdrojkowski sat in her Parkwood Avenue house last week trying to hold back the tears. A month ago, a water main break in front of her Ann Arbor house sent raw sewage shooting out of her dishwasher, sinks, toilets and shower drains. Her dishwasher was ruined. When the raw sewage came out through her sink, it got into the pots, pans and utensils. The city picked up the $24,000 cleaning bill but says it is not liable to pay for $39,000 in damages. Zdrojkowski represents the human side of years of neglect of the city's water pipes. Ann Arbor Utilities Director Sue McCormick estimates it would cost the city about $200 million to replace all the pipes that are 50 years or older - about 250 miles of aging pipes the city let go unchecked for decades. And that doesn't include the cost of digging up the city streets and repaving them when finished. McCormick quickly learned about Ann Arbor's water system woes when she took over in 2001. She has said the only data she found on the maintenance of the water pipes were hand-written records that recorded what decade the pipes had been installed. The city has 450 miles of underground water pipes. About 75 percent of the system was put in prior to the 1960s. McCormick said the pipes have a life expectancy of 50 years. Ann Arbor News 11/28/04
Aging bridges and scarce funds have Albion between a rock and a hard place, but a new state-funded bridge program may help the city. For several years, three of Albion's nine bridges have been on the state's critical bridge list. Inspections are required every other year by the state. A recent inspection by Scott Civil Engineering Co. forced city officials to severely decrease the weight load the bridges can tolerate. Two additional bridges are in very poor condition, according to the engineers. Of the three, the East Erie Street bridge, constructed in 1908, is in the worst shape and needs to be replaced. Scott's report indicates visible damage to the rail, serious deterioration from steel corrosion under the bridge and small holes in the steel support beams. The bridge has a cobblestone foundation, but portions of the stone are loose or missing. He estimated the bridge has about five years of life left. Records show that it was last restored in 1930. It's fourth on Michigan Department of Transportation's statewide list of 213 bridges in critical shape. Repairing the bridges will cost up to $500,000 each - money the city does not have. Battle Creek Enquirer 12/13/04
The draft version of Michigan's transportation plan for the next five years contains a number that reflects just how precarious long-term road funding is: Starting with an abrupt decline in 2006, funding for new construction hits a dead-end in 2009. The budget for "capacity improvement and new roads" that year is nothing -- zero, zilch, nada. Of course a lot can happen by then, and Michigan Transportation Director Gloria Jeff says she is confident there ultimately will be some money for construction and expansion projects that are under way in 2009. But the goose egg in the draft plan is a reminder that state and federal budgets are tight, and the struggle over where to put limited resources continue. Booth Newspapers 1/3/05
Metro Detroit wastewater treatment plants have released more than 40 billion gallons of raw or only partially treated sewage into area waterways over the past three years, a volume so large that it surprised some environmentalists. While excessive storm water in the system remains the biggest cause, many of the discharges were prompted by old and malfunctioning . The releases are frequent. In 2004, according to preliminary information, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department reported it had released wastewater, which contained at least some form of sewage, 400 times. About 50 of those releases occurred during heavy rains last May. Many of the releases are caused by the region's aging infrastructure, struggling to handle the amount of waste produced by residents. For example, an undisclosed amount of raw sewage was released into a branch of the Rouge River in Waterford when a pump operated by the Oakland County Drain Commissioner malfunctioned. One reason for the failure is that the system is overburdened, mostly from new construction projects in the area. The strongest evidence of the impact of the releases is when swimming is banned in lakes and rivers for health reasons. That doesn't happen in the winter when sewage is released, Michigan State's Rose said, but colder temperatures allow the dangerous microorganisms to grow and accumulate in the sediment of Michigan's waterways. In 2003, the last year for which the Department of Environmental Quality released a Beach Quality Report, testing found that levels of E. coli, the bacteria commonly measured to gauge water quality, were so high at individual state lakes and beaches that they had to be closed for at least one day on 136 occasions. Detroit News 1/3/05
Sources
- Survey of the state's civil engineers conducted in December 2004
TRIP Fact Sheets, February 2005
Texas Transportation Institute, 2004 Urban Mobility Report
Government Performance Project, Grading the States 2004
The State of Garbage in America, Biocycle Magazine 2004
Condition of America's Public Schools, 1999
EPA Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey, 2001
EPA Clean Water Needs Survey, 2000
Association of State Dam Safety Officials
