A short time ago, I wrote about the recent closure of I-75 to demolish the Luna Pier Bridge. In the past, I’ve written about several historic bridges in Monroe County, including the Monroe and Macomb Street bridges and the River Raisin Bridge — also located over I-75.
Earlier Coverage:The old Luna Pier Bridge was built in 1955
Another interesting historic bridge located in nearby Gibraltar is fighting demolition and has Monroe County connections. The Horse Island Bridge was built in 1925 and is of fixed concrete closed spandrel deck arch design. According to Nathan Holth of HistoricBridges.org, “This small arch bridge is actually one of the most beautiful structures with one of the most unique appearances in the state of Michigan. This bridge features a steep deck camber that follows the shape of the arch itself, making the bridge look more like an old European footbridge than a 1920s vehicular concrete arch bridge. The design of the bridge was selected because the land is low-lying and flat, with the bayou having no valley/depression in which to contain an arch structure that could provide a deck at the level of the surrounding roadway. There is no other known bridge in the state that follows this design. The bridge also retains near-perfect historic integrity.”