This bridge is an extremely small arch bridge. Despite this, the bridge is still a very beautiful structure. The small size gives the arch different proportions not experienced with larger bridges. Further the excellent historic integrity that includes original railings greatly adds to the aesthetic values of the bridge.
It is unknown who built this bridge. The design and simple aesthetic detailing of the railings is similar to designs used by the Luten Bridge Company and the Illinois Bridge Company. The Illinois Bridge Company was prolific in Michigan, but most examples are in southern Michigan. Illinois Bridge Company and Luten Bridge Company sometimes would both be involved with an arch bridge, with Luten doing the design and Illinois Bridge doing the construction.
The county wants to demolish and replace this bridge with an ugly modern bridge. However, this bridge could instead be rehabilitated, possibly for less or similar cost as replacement, which would also preserve this attractive bridge. The ADT on the road is only 86, which means that the replacement bridge would likely only be a one lane bridge. This means that the existing one-lane bridge is functionally sufficient, and that wide and heavy trucks and such do not need to use the road. As such, the only thing replacement will do is destroy heritage and waste money. Instead, repairs should be made to the existing abutments which have some delamination and scour issues. Based on the decent NBI ratings for the deck and superstructure, only minor repairs would be needed to those areas.