Not all Newport hazards are man-made: nearly kissed a deer who stepped out from behind a bush 10 feet in front, and then retreated, all before I could react. Still, good to see signs of repairs soon to come to some of the decayed road surface.

The tax would  be levied under Act 283 of 1909. The vote to set the public hearing was 5-3, over dissent from Ronnie Peterson (D-District 6), Felicia Brabec (D-District 4) and Yousef Rabhi (D-District 8). Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) was out of the room when the vote was taken.

No final decision about whether to levy the millage is expected at the May 21 meeting, although an initial vote might be taken then.

Commissioners all appeared to support finding a way to secure more road funding, but some voiced concern about process and timing – especially since a levy under Act 283 would be done without voter approval.

Act 283 requires the road commission to submit a plan of recommended road repairs and the cost to undertake the projects. The law allows the county board to levy a millage to cover those costs, without voter approval. [.pdf of relevant section from Act 283, including summary by Lew Kidder of Scio Township.] Because the law is more than a century old and pre-dates the state’s Headlee amendment, there’s some uncertainty about the ability of county governments to use it.

Commissioners have previously held several discussions about the possibility of additional funding sources for road repair, most recently at a lengthy working session on April 17, 2014. In addition to a possible Act 283 levy, another option that’s been discussed is to put a countywide road millage on the Nov. 5, 2014 ballot for voter approval. A draft resolution circulated at the working session called for a four-year, 0.5 mill tax – from 2014-2017 – that would raise $7.15 million in its first year.

The May 7 discussion began when Dan Smith (R-District 2) brought forward a resolution that would authorize levying a 1 mill tax – under Act 283 – in December 2014. It would generate $14.34 million “to repair 2013–14 winter damage to the roads, streets and paths in Washtenaw County.” [.pdf of draft resolution] The board ultimately voted to postpone the resolution until May 21 over dissent from Alicia Ping.

Smith’s resolution would earmark 50% of the gross revenues to be used in the municipality in which the revenue was generated. Beyond that, 10% would be used for non-motorized transportation needs – like bike lanes and pedestrian paths – with the remainder to be allocated “based on use, need, and impact to the traveling public.”

The resolution also addresses concerns about the potential legal issues related to Act 283. From the draft resolution:

FURTHERMORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Washtenaw County Corporation Counsel is directed to provide an exhaustive formal written opinion, by September 30, 2014, which clearly and convincingly details the exact mechanism under which Act 283 of 1909 taxes may be levied in excess of Article IX, Section 6 constitutional limits without a vote of the people; and that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners waives any attorney/client privilege concerning this opinion.

FURTHERMORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners asks the county’s legislative delegation, State Senators Randy Richardville and Rebekah Warren and State Representatives Gretchen Driskell, Jeff Irwin, David Rutledge and Adam Zemke, to request an Attorney General opinion regarding the ability for counties to levy a tax under Act 283 of 1909 in excess of Article IX, Section 6 constitutional limits without a vote of the people.

During the wide-ranging discussion on May 7, Peterson expressed concern that the public hadn’t yet been informed about the Act 283 proposal. At the request of board chair Yousef Rabhi, Roy Townsend – managing director of the county road commission – had prepared a list of road projects that could be funded by an Act 283 millage, which was distributed at the May 7 meeting. Townsend and two of the three road commissioners – Barb Fuller and Bill McFarlane – attended the May 7 meeting, and Townsend fielded questions from the board. [.xls spreadsheet of proposed road projects based on 0.4 mill tax] [.xls spreadsheet of possible amounts raised by jurisdiction] [.pdf map showing location of proposed projects]

Corporation counsel Curtis Hedger cautioned that Act 283 lays out a specific process, which calls for a presentation of proposed road projects at a meeting in late September or October, prior to the December levy. Responding to those concerns, Dan Smith noted that options might include passing a resolution this month or in June to indicate the board’s intent to levy the tax, then possibly using money from the general fund’s fund balance to pay for road work this summer. The fund balance would be reimbursed when the tax revenues are collected in December.

The board discussion on this issue will continue at the May 21 meeting. Before then, a May 8 working session agenda includes the topic of possible expansion of the road commission board.

In other road-related items on the May 7 agenda, the board voted to accept the recommendations of a subcommittee that was appointed last year to explore options enabled by state legislators. The subcommittee had recommended not to make the road commission part of county operations, and not to make the job of road commissioner an elected position. The vote to accept the recommendations was 7-1, over dissent from Conan Smith (D-District 9). Rolland Sizemore Jr. (D-District 5) was not in the room when the vote was taken.

State legislation enacted in 2012 allowed for: (1) a county board of commissioners to exercise the powers and duties of a road commission; and (2) the functions of a road commission to be transferred to the county board. A sunset clause means that the laws expire on Jan. 1, 2015. That deadline prompted the county board to examine these options.

Related to that issue, Dan Smith drafted a letter to be sent to the state House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, urging passage of House Bills 5117 and 5118, which would remove the sunset clause from the legislation. [.pdf of letter]

From the letter:

Washtenaw County’s roads are a critical public asset; stewarding this infrastructure is the responsibility of an independent entity, with negligible input or funding from the elected Board of Commissioners. Eliminating the sunset would provide the board with more options for managing roads, including the possibility of additional locally-generated revenue. We urge passage of HB 5117 and HB 5118.

Yousef Rabhi and Alicia Ping asked that their names not be included as signatories. After consulting with Hedger during the meeting, Rabhi told commissioners that if anyone else wanted their names removed from the letter, they should let Smith know. It was not a voting item.

This brief was filed from the boardroom of the county administration building at 220 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor. A more detailed report will follow: [link]

Michael Nearing, an engineer with the city of Ann Arbor, wields a hammer. The hammer was used for two different purposes: "sounding" the concrete for structural integrity and clearing away de-laminated concrete so that it would not fall on cars below.

Since late February, the East Stadium Boulevard bridge over State Street has funneled vehicles across the span in just two of the available four lanes. The lane reduction is a strategy to protect the fifth – counting from the southern edge of the bridge – of the 16 beams in the structure. That fifth beam is “sagging” 7/8 of an inch lower than other beams in the bridge. So traffic is currently restricted to the northern lanes. [Previous Chronicle coverage of the bridge provides additional background.]

In her update to city council in early March, Sue McCormick, the city’s director of public services, indicated that the bridge was being closely monitored in order to verify the safety of the bridge. Here at The Chronicle, we wondered what “monitoring” entailed.

An emailed request to Homayoon Pirooz, project management manager with the city of Ann Arbor, resulted in The Chronicle spending part of a rainy Wednesday morning under a bridge with a handful of staff from the field services unit and two engineers: Michael Nearing, senior project manager for the city of Ann Arbor’s project management unit, and Jonathan Drummond, with Northwest Consultants Inc.

The weekly monitoring entails regulating traffic under the bridge to allow for a truck with an elevated platform to park and lift the inspectors right up to the underside of the structure. Traffic control was done by a two-man crew, born and bred in Ann Arbor, one wearing a hardhat stickered with a UM winged helmet. They let cars through the one-lane gap on an alternating basis.

Nearing briefed us on the basics. The idea was to check the bridge weekly for additional displacement of the fifth beam to determine if the traffic re-routing had allowed the beam to stabilize at the 7/8-inch deflection, plus give the rest of the bridge a visual once-over. After 6-8 weeks, if the beam doesn’t show any further sagging, the plan is to reduce the frequency of the inspections to every other week.

Engineer's sketch of the lane configuration. Note also the box cross sections of the individual beams. (image links to higher resolution file)

Although the word “beam” is, to a layman, perhaps suggestive of a solid block of concrete, the beams have a hollow box as a cross section. Their strength derives from the steel strands in the bottom of the box. Such box beams are manufactured remotely and brought to a construction site fully cured. At the manufacturing facility, the steel strands are stretched under tremendous tension and the concrete is poured over them. When the concrete cures, the force of the pre-tensioned strands is applied to the concrete, which gives the beam its strength. Without tension the strands don’t add the same strength.

Thus Nearing said that the seven exposed pre-tensioned strands on the fifth beam were no longer contributing to the strength of that member. But on Wednesday morning, the fifth beam was holding steady at a 7/8-inch deflection. The measurement was taken at a point marked with a metal strip fastened into place along the beam to ensure the measurement was taken consistently at the same point from week to week. This week, at least, the beam hadn’t measurably sagged any lower. Still, Nearing and other field services staff took the opportunity to chip away bits of loose concrete from the area, so that they would not fall on their own – possibly onto the windshields of State Street traffic.

Traffic was stopped to allow a truck with a lift to raise city workers to where they could inspect the fifth-beam problem area. (image links to higher resolution file)

And it’s definitely the traffic under the bridge that Nearing said he was concerned about – as much as the traffic going over the bridge. In fact, Nearing did not assess a dramatic collapse across a whole lane’s width as very realistic possibility. He was more concerned about pieces of concrete falling onto State Street traffic.

Here’s why a whole-span collapse isn’t realistic. Even though the beams are tied together, Nearing emphasized that each beam was designed to bear the whole load of its section of the bridge. And given that the beams are not individually wide enough to allow a car to fall through, even the failure of a single beam would not result in cars falling through the air.

In addition to the fifth beam, the eighth beam had caught Nearing’s attention. He said it was starting to show signs of a longitudinal rust stain, very similar in appearance to how the fifth beam looked before the pre-tensioning strands started to expose themselves.

That eighth beam doesn’t figure in the current plan for a bridge repair scenario. That would entail replacement of just as many beams as necessary to get at the weakest one – the fifth one. And that would mean the five beams on the southern side of the bridge would be replaced. Nearing said that although a repair plan had been drawn up, whether it gets implemented depends on how soon funding is available [possibly via the second round of federal stimulus package money] for a complete reconstruction, including the adjacent bridge over the railroad tracks. If funding for complete reconstruction isn’t forthcoming in the next couple of years, the repair scenario (replacement of some limited number of beams) could be implemented.

Nearing walked us around to the top of the bridge and pointed out where it’s not just the box beams that are an issue for the bridge. The wingwalls are in poor shape (daylight is visible where there should be concrete), and the sidewalks are starting to slope downward where the embankment is gradually giving way. The crater-like asphalt surface of the bridge lets water through – wet spots on the underside of the bridge were visible on that rainy morning. And the drain holes in the beams are to some extent clogged by an artifact of their construction technique. Namely, the hollow areas inside the concrete boxes were created with cardboard forms when they were poured, and the cardboard, as it gets wet, falls apart and winds up clogging the holes that are meant to let the water out. Water inside the boxes, combined with freeze-thaw cycles, accelerates the deterioration of the bridge’s condition.

In the coming few weeks, there’ll be additional monitoring trips. We’re not planning to accompany Nearing on every one of them. But we’ll try to keep readers posted on any new developments.

Michael Nearing, left, engineer with the city of Ann Arbor, gives the underside of the East Stadium bridge a closeup inspection.

Jon Drummond, an engineer with Northwest Consultants, along with Michael Nearing, city engineer. (image links to higher resolution file)

The eighth beam, counting from the south, is starting to show the same longitudinal rust staining that the fifth beam did, before some of its pre-tensioning strands started to be exposed. (image links to higher resolution file)

The surrounding support structures also show signs of fatigue, like this sidewalk that has settled to tilt downward from right to left as the embankment weakens.

The chalk outlines were drawn during the Octoboer 2008 annual inspection to indicate the limits of where the de-lamination of the concrete were thought to be at that time.

The ground cover along the shoulders of Huron River Drive is starting to sprout. The goal is that it will help stabilize the shoulders through the winter.

Today’s re-opening of HRD after a temporary closure marked the conclusion of the first phase of road reconstruction plus replacement of sanitary sewers. The remaining work will begin in spring 2009. The most recent of the email updates provided by Liz Rolla, a city planner, since the project was in its conceptual phase, indicates that the final layer of asphalt will be laid towards the end of next year (2009). That layer will erase the seams between the new asphalt already put down and the older sections.

The seams between the old and new asphalt sections will be smoothed over when the final layer of asphalt is laid in late 2009.

The re-construction techniques used on the road reflect the same concern for the natural habitat that led to the consideration of a permanent closure of HRD to motor vehicle traffic. In order to reconstruct the road properly and on a wider footprint to accommodate bicycle lanes, it was feared that the sensitive natural habitats on either side of the road would have to be compromised.

However, at a public meeting held at Forsythe Middle School in April of 2007, Connie Pulcipher of the consulting firm Beckett & Raeder Inc., fielded question after question from speakers objecting to the possible closure of HRD to motor vehicle traffic. [Pulcipher has since joined the city of Ann Arbor planning staff.] Lloyd Carr, then coach of the University of Michigan football team, was cited by one speaker as an example of someone who chose to motor along scenic HRD instead of taking faster, more direct routes.

The potential permanent closure of the road also raised concerns among neighbors about increased traffic along residential streets that would be used as alternate routes, like Warrington Drive and Lowell Road.

Turtles may get some extra consideration from drivers and cyclists on the reconstructed Huron River Drive.

The issue drew enough interest from one of those neighbors, Richard Wickboldt, that he was was prompted to participate on the study committee, and ran for city council in Ward 1 in the August 2007 Democratic primary.

In the end, the city opted to keep the road open to motor vehicular traffic, but sought to minimize the impact on the senstive habitats by making the roadbed as shallow as possible. This was achieved by what the city’s website calls a “burrito” cross section. The burrito shell consists of a geogrid and geofabrics, while the tasty meat filling is crushed rock.