By David Wallace
C & G Staff Writer

KEEGO HARBOR — Plenty of repaired roads reopen to traffic without fanfare, but when the Cass Lake Road bridge reopened June 24 after a six-month closure, officials threw a party on the bridge.

Several hundred people gathered on and around the bridge as officials from Keego Harbor, Waterford the county and the Road Commission clipped a ribbon to open the bridge. When Keego Harbor Mayor Sid Rubin asked the crowd how many of them suffered from the bridge closure, almost every hand went up.

But people did not gather on this day to dwell on their hardships. The prevailing mood was giddy, with people looking forward to the return of traffic between Keego Harbor and Waterford, and with it, the return of convenience and lost business.

“We’re all just thrilled to have the bridge, new bridge, finally opening. We certainly rely on the drive-by traffic, as do the other businesses,” said John Huttenlocher of the Linda Rea Team, responsible for selling condominiums in the Reserve at Cass Lake, which stands right at the bridge. “It’s been a major inconvenience for everyone involved, but being in real estate, we also understand, as do the other business owners, that it was something that was totally necessary.

“There was a lot of frustration over the progress or lack of progress as far as the timing goes, but some of these things couldn’t be helped.”

The new Modern Food & Spirits also stands right at the bridge.

“From January 2 on, it put us at the end of a dead-end street,” said Francis Stanton, who owns Modern with his wife, Kim. “We had four months to kind of get established before they closed the bridge, and suddenly, it was like turning a faucet off.”

“It’s going to be great to have it open,” he said.

John A. Scott, the county commissioner for the area, fired up the crowd with his comments.

“We’ve been waiting a long time. I … live just north of here, and as I came home last night, I was trying to make my left turn onto (M-59), and of course, we’re stopped at Voorheis, and I said, ‘This is my last night for doing that,’” said Scott.

The crowd responded with cheers. Scott called it the “last time on 59. We’re cutting back through.”

“You know, the real heroes and the people that really, really should be thought about most here are all these people that lived on both sides and the businesses, especially. They’ve gone through a very, very difficult time,” said Scott. “Let’s get out here and support them.”

Besides business owners, the long detour around the bridge affected residents. Gloria Schmeisser, a Waterford resident, lives a quarter of a mile north of the bridge.

“My roommate works at Gino’s (Pizzeria & Restaurant in Keego Harbor), and he has to work five days a week. And normally, it would be less than a mile driving him up there. I had to be driving 16 miles to go around every day, and it was running me $70 instead of, let’s say, $10 a week,” she said.

The bridge closing and detour corresponded with the rise in gas prices to $4 a gallon.

“This is an exciting day to finally see them finish this project, because there was so many times I came to this Wine Tasters store by the bridge, and they wouldn’t even be out here working. And I’d say, ‘When?’” said Schmeisser.

The Road Commission explained reasons for what looked to some like a lack of work at times, such as waiting for concrete to cure or workers out of sight in the cofferdams.

“And I am so thrilled that they’ve opened it. I had to take him to work at noon today. Guess what? At 5 o’clock today, I can drive this way (south on Cass Lake) and pick him up,” said Schmeisser.

The project cost did rise above the amount budgeted.

“We are right now almost in budget. It’s a little bit over budget,” said Craig Bryson, public information officer with the Road Commission. “But within a reasonable amount of the budget.”

The budget was $1.2 million.

“We’re about $100,000 over right now. We expect that to hold,” said Bryson. “That was because, primarily because, of the water line that was incorrectly recorded in all the public records. We found out it was actually right where the new pier for this bridge was supposed to be. And it was marked on all the old documents being several feet to the side. We started digging and found out it was right where we needed to put in a pier.”

The project replaced an 83-year-old, two-lane bridge with a three-lane bridge. The new project is not completely finished, as the sidewalks on both sides of the bridge, for example, still needed to be poured as of June 24.

Eventually, a culvert not far north of the bridge will require work and a closure of the road, but people apparently do not need to worry about it for some time.

“At some time (the project will occur), but not anywhere in the near future,” said Bryson.

You can reach Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1053.