EAST LANSING, Mich — It's quiet on this part of Harrison Road in East Lansing, and it's not because students aren't on campus. The road has been closed since June after critical structural issues were found on the bridge.
- The Harrison Road bridge will reopen to traffic on Monday after months of closure.
- East Lansing received $2.9 million in state funding for the bridge deck replacement project.
- While the bridge will reopen, partial lane closures will continue through fall for ongoing repairs.
East Lansing Public Works Director Ron Lacasse says the reopening is good news for residents who have been unable to use this route for months.
WATCH: East Lansing's Harrison Road bridge reopens after critical repairs
"It's a bridge deck replacement project," Lacasse said.
Big orange signs have prevented any neighbor from coming or going since June, after critical structural issues were discovered.
"Our goal is to get the bridge open by this coming Monday," Lacasse said.
The repairs were made possible with money from the state.
"We applied for the state of Michigan bridge funding for this project and received $2.9 million in bridge funding," Lacasse said.
Other communities may not be as fortunate as East Lansing when it comes to securing infrastructure funding.
"Most local agencies do not receive enough transportation funding to do a bridge project on their own," Rebecca Curtis with Michigan Department of Transportation said.
With funding set to sharply decline by the end of this year, Curtis says it may cause more infrastructure problems across the state.
"Our inflationary costs have been 13% a year," Curtis said.
If a road is damaged, drivers encounter potholes. If a bridge is damaged, communities face closures and detours, which brings us back to Harrison Road.
Lacasse tells me that while the bridge will be open Monday, the project will continue repairs throughout the fall with partial lane closures. However, Michigan State University football fans need not worry about game-day travel disruptions.
"It will be fully open to traffic on MSU game days, so it won't impact traffic," Lacasse said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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