A new bridge is complete over Wolf Creek on Turley Road in Upton Township (just off of Highway M) and traffic was moving across it Monday.
Township board president Ernie Mesa said the structure (technically a low-water crossing) cost less than $50,000 and took 16 days to build. It consists of 60 yards of concrete poured into the footings, is completely reinforced with 1/2-inch rebar, is about 7-feet tall at his highest point, has 8-inch thick walls, and features four 5-foot diameter metal culverts.
The work was done by B.J. Fletcher and Fletcher Construction.
“It’s a 100-year bridge,” Mesa said.
The structure isn’t rated, but Mesa said it would be at about 15 to 30 tons if it was.
A local landowner – Clarence “Rocky” Dailing – donated a piece of land to the project for a corner approach and during construction allowed area residents to drive across a portion of his property through the creek around the bridge project in order to avoid traveling about 30 miles out of their way to come in from the Plato side of Turley Road.
“We really want to thank him for letting the people do that, because he didn’t have to,” Mesa said.