If your daily commute includes the Somerlayton Bridge along M-139 over the St. Joseph River in Benton Township steel yourself for some potential delays as the Michigan Department of Transportation undertakes a more than half-a-million dollar makeover of the bridge deck there beginning next Monday.
Those delays on the river bridge will be a regular part of your commute throughout the entire summer according to MDOT’s announcement this morning.
MDOT crews will be repairing the M-139 bridge over the St. Joseph River in Benton Township from Monday, May 24th, through Friday, September 17th. The $541,000 investment includes:
- Concrete deck patching
- An epoxy overlay
- Expansion joint replacement
- Concrete barrier repairs
This project is designed to extend the life of the bridge and improve ride quality over it. As a result of the construction process, MDOT says that traffic restrictions will be in place, however one lane will be open in each direction with a traffic shift throughout the process.
The original Somerlayton Bridge over the St. Joseph River was built in 1897 by the Benton Harbor and Southeastern Railway Company as a railroad bridge for a railway connecting Benton Harbor and Berrien Springs and was later converted in 1929 to a roadway bridge. The original steel truss structure was replaced in 1982 by a more modern design.
