Silver Street bridge construction detours traffic

A detour on a major north-south route in St. Joseph County will remain in effect at least through September while a bridge is replaced.
Crews from Hudsonville-based Grand River Construction started work Tuesday on the Silver Street bridge at the Portage River. The job is a full rebuild to replace a bridge that job foreman Dean Stewart said was in excess of 30 years old.
He said the new bridge will be 85 feet long and 50 feet wide, larger in both length and width than the bridge previously in place.
The task is a part of a $1.5 million package that also includes the Decker Road bridge replacement over the Long Lake channel in Colon Township, Stewart said.
Access to Marcellus Road at the north end of the bridge is unrestricted. Silver Street traffic, however, is being detoured to Lakehead Road to the east.