In the early part of the 20th century, the East River Road bridge over the North Hickory Canal was a timber structure.[3] In 1944, the Wayne County Road Commission formulated plans to widen and straighten the southern section of road, moving it to the west.[3] The original bridge was replaced with this structure, completed in 1945.[3]
Description
The East River Road–North Hickory Canal Bridge is 64 feet (20 m) long with a main span length of 24 feet (7.3 m).[2] The bridge is continuous concrete slab bridge.[3] Wayne County used this type of bridge in the years during and after World War II, presumably because of the difficulty of obtaining steel during these years.[3] The bridge has solid concrete parapet railings embedded with a pebble aggregate and trimmed with a horizontal line.[2] The ends of the railings curve to follow the perpendicular wing walls.[2] The piles of the bridge are octagonal, part of the road commission's continuous experimentation with bridge design.[3]
^ abcdeStaff. "East River Road Bridge". State Historic Preservation Office. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Archived from the original on May 17, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
