Thanks in part to design-build and a lane rental arrangement, a bridge over Interstate 75 near Detroit reopened to traffic on Dec. 11, less than five months after collapsing in flames.
The steel beams of the two-span Nine Mile Bridge in Hazel Park, Mich., melted on July 15 after a car hit a tanker truck on six-lane I-75, causing 14,000 gallons of fuel to erupt in flames. “The northbound side deck fell onto the freeway,” says Gerard Pawloski, MDOT resident engineer. “The very next day our maintenance people met with four of our local contractors. Bids were due back by noon.”