U.S. Route 131 - Historic Bridges

Historic Bridges

MDOT maintains a listing of historic bridges that includes two which formerly carried US 131. In 1913, the State Trunk Line Act required the highway department to build and maintain bridges at the state's expense if they were included in the nascent highway system. Among the first of these state-built structures is the Division Avenue – Plaster Creek Bridge in Grand Rapids. The crossing is listed on the NHRP for its architectural and engineering significance. Built as Trunk Line Bridge No. 3 over Plaster Creek in 1914 by the MSHD, the span cost just over $6,000. Division Avenue carried US 131 until the construction of the freeway through Grand Rapids in the 1960s. The bridge, a filled spandrel arch design, is 50-foot-long (15 m), and was modified in 1935 to widen its deck from 28 feet (8.5 m) to the current 43 feet (13 m). The structure was added to the NRHP on December 17, 1999.

The second bridge listed by MDOT is the crossing of the Little Muskegon River for 190th Avenue in southern Mecosta County. Like the Plaster Creek bridge, this structure was also built by the MSHD under the Trunk Line Act of 1913. Built in 1916–17 the 45-foot-long (14 m), 18-foot-wide (5.5 m), concrete through-girder bridge cost around $10,000 to build. It was initially named Trunk Line Bridge No. 61. The span is the oldest concrete girder bridge designed by the MSHD. US 131 followed 190th Avenue over the river until a realignment shifted the highway to another route in 1927.