Massive bridge structure awaits final placement over Black River Canal

Jackie Smith, Port Huron Times Herald
·3 min read
The bridge for a $1.4 million, 10-foot pathway over the Black River Canal awaits on the waterway's north side on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Port Huron. A massive joint venture, the bridge adds to the Bridge-to-Bay trail.
The bridge for a $1.4 million, 10-foot pathway over the Black River Canal awaits on the waterway's north side on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Port Huron. A massive joint venture, the bridge adds to the Bridge-to-Bay trail.

A massive truss bridge sat waiting this week near the northern edge of the Black River Canal in view of athletics fields at Port Huron Northern High School — its future foundational base covered in snow.

It’s part of a larger 10-foot pedestrian pathway set to span the canal, connecting both the high school and Holland Woods Middle School to the south, as well as points in the Bridge to Bay Trail dotting St. Clair County’s waterfront.

The Community Foundation of St. Clair County, which has spearheaded the effort with the city of Port Huron and Port Huron Area Schools, shared news of the arrival of the prefabricated structure on social media in mid-February. So far, organizers from agencies involved in the project said no date has been set to put the bridge in place.

But for some, its arrival is sweet enough.

“Everybody was really excited about the project when it was kind of in the design phase, and we were just dreaming about it,” Jackie Hanton, the Community Foundation’s vice president, said in an interview last Friday. “And now, to actually see the bridge going in, to see the actual trail paved, I think it’s easier to connect with what the impact is going to be. Because you’ve got neighborhoods, you’ve got the schools, you’ve got just normal trail users and walkers and bikers and joggers that now have a new safe area.”

The pathway and bridge over the Black River Canal will connect two Port Huron schools and conclude a piece of the larger Bridge to Bay Trail.
The pathway and bridge over the Black River Canal will connect two Port Huron schools and conclude a piece of the larger Bridge to Bay Trail.

The canal trail itself will begin off Gratiot Avenue heading west along the south side of the waterway, north between the schools, and down Krafft Road.

Port Huron City Manager James Freed said he expected a crane to put the bridge in place sometime this month with the pavement being laid this spring — the canal pathway should be accessible to walkers and bicyclists by June.

Sheri Faust, president of the Friends of the St. Clair River, said it'll help capitalize on other Bridge to Bay improvements.

“This campus-canal route is transformational for the Bridge to Bay Trail,” she said via email. “This nearly one-mile trail addition successfully and safely links northern routes in Fort Gratiot to the downtown loop in Port Huron and beyond.

The bridge for a $1.4 million, 10-foot pathway over the Black River Canal — in view of a resting excavator — sits on the waterway's north side on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Port Huron.
The bridge for a $1.4 million, 10-foot pathway over the Black River Canal — in view of a resting excavator — sits on the waterway's north side on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Port Huron.

“Adding to trail improvements the city of Port Huron has planned for Gratiot Ave, this all adds to the goal of connecting and completing the 50-mile Bridge to Bay Trail. Once the campus-canal bridge and trail is open, there will be new trail kiosks and signage added to help with wayfinding. In addition to this trail section, there will be a new Bridge to Bay Trail route added in St. Clair this summer, and Marysville is working through designs for new trail routes to connect gaps along their waterfront."

Finishing touches for trail projects to connect Port Huron Northern and Holland Woods were underway roughly two years ago between the city of Port Huron and Port Huron Area Schools.

The Community Foundation originally put the project’s cost at $650,000

By the summer of 2022, however, Port Huron City Council members OK’d a $1.3 million bid for the work, going toward the total cost that’d ballooned to $1.4 million in total.

The small funding gap, officials said, was quickly filled soon after.

The bridge for a $1.4 million, 10-foot pathway over the Black River Canal awaits on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in view of the athletics fields at Port Huron Northern High School. A joint project, the bridge will connect campuses between the high school and Holland Woods Middle School to the south in addition to accommodating users of the Bridge-to-Bay trail.

“It was a project that got hit by inflation really hard,” Hanton said. “So, from materials to labor, it almost stopped the project, but thankfully, we had donors who came to the table and believed in the vision enough to continue to make it happen.”

In addition to a boost from donors and through the Community Foundation, the funding included a $240,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, more than $315,00 from the city’s American Rescue Plan dollars, and upwards of $240,000 from the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Massive bridge structure awaits final placement over Black River Canal