U.S. Route 23 in Michigan - Historic Bridges

Historic Bridges

MDOT maintains a listing of the historic bridges in the state; along US 23, the department has listed two structures. The bridge over the Ocqueoc River in Ocqueoc Township in Presque Isle County was built in 1937. The 106-foot-long (32 m) structure is one of the last three deck truss bridges in the state. The roadway on the bridge is 38 feet (11.6 m) wide and carries two lanes of traffic. The bridge was reconstructed in 1994.

The second bridge is the Cheboygan Bascule Bridge in Cheboygan. This bascule bridge was built in 1940 over the Cheboygan River as the last of its kind before World War II. It was built as a "two-leaf bridge in a place where a single-leaf bridge probably would have sufficed." The initial construction of the structure was delayed when the contractor died, but it was completed in December 1940. It was the second moveable bridge on the site, replacing an iron swing bridge built in 1877. The structure is 155 feet (47 m) long, composed of two 42-foot (13 m) spans on either side of the central 70-foot (21 m) span; the roadway is 40 feet (12 m) wide with four lanes for vehicle traffic. There are also pedestrian sidewalks on either side of the roadway. When the bridge is opened to allow river traffic to pass, boats have a 60-foot-wide (18 m) channel for navigation. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 1999, and reconstructed in 2003.