EAGLE HARBOR – Work begins next week on a $2.9 million project to remove and replace the Silver River Bridge in Keweenaw County.
On the basis of economic modeling, the investment is expected to support 35 jobs, Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a news release Wednesday.
The work is expected to be completed in July. In the meantime, traffic will be diverted via a road posted on US 41. The M-26 closure will be west of the western entrance to Brockway Drive, approximately 10 miles from Cooper Harbor.
The state said the Silver River Bridge has reached the end of its useful life. After motion was detected on one of the bridge’s old rock walls in 2024, the Michigan Department of Transportation reduced traffic to one lane and installed a temporary traffic light.
The road section of the new bridge will be wider, including 12-foot lanes and 8-foot shoulders, providing more space and greater safety for cyclists and pedestrians. A new historic plaque will also be installed, and landscaping work will be carried out around the bridge.