| Key Facts |
| Bridge Name | Facility Carried / Feature Intersected | Location | Structure Type | Construction Date / Builder or Contractor |
| Pine Island Drive Bridge | Pine Island Drive Over Rogue River | Rural: Kent County, Michigan | Concrete Through Arch, Stationary | 1924 By: Peter Brill |
| Technical Facts |
| Structure Length | Roadway Width | Main Spans | Approach Spans |
| 100 Feet (30.4 Meters) | 20 Feet (6.1 Meters) | 1 | None |
Excellent news! Tom Byle, Assistant Director of Engineering of the Kent County Road Commission reports that Kent County plans to restore this bridge, and to increase safety, turn the crossing into a one-way couplet, an option this website has suggested with so many of those narrow concrete bridges on this website. Kent County deserves a big thank you for choosing to preserve this unique bridge which is unlike anything else in the state! The planned preservation of this structure will be a role model for the rest of the state.
This is a one-of-a-kind example of a through arch bridge with overhead bracing in Michigan. Unlike truss bridges, when dealing with arch bridges and plate girders, the "through" description does not require overhead bracing. But this bridge is a through bridge in both the truss and the arch sense of the term. It has the same cool tunnel feeling you get when you cross a through truss bridge. This bridge is a through arch bridge which is commonly called a rainbow arch bridge. However it does not look like the average rainbow arch, which is like city-engineer designed Merrick Street Bridge. Rather, it really has more architectural details that relate to to Michigan's unique curved-chord through girder bridges, a.k.a. concrete camelback bridges. Indeed, there is little difference in the way a concrete through arch and a curved chord through girder function structurally, since the strength comes from the structure beside the roadway, which hold the deck up with floor beams. This inset arch design (and the solid concrete wall forming it), the pierced openings, and general shape of the arch contribute to this concrete camelback appearance. Beyond these similarities, this bridge was really spruced up with architectural details. One could almost call the bridge ornate. The pierced openings are not just simple holes, they have a keyhole-like shape to them. Inset, but not pierced, designs identical to accent the piercing below. End posts on the bridge have inset rectangular designs and such. The overhead bracing has been shaped to give the appearance that it sits on brackets. Looking up at this bracing on the bridge, you can see that the bracing has had its interior corners rounded to give it a window-like appearance.
The unusual design at this location came because the county was not interested in a metal truss design, which had originally been proposed for the crossing.
