The Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) spent the past few weeks completing several planned repairs around the bridge over Paint Creek at the intersection of Clarkston and Kern roads in Orion Township.
According to Road Commissioner Eric Wilson, workers have made extensive drainage and road repairs without tremendous expenditures by using agency staff for most of the work.
‘We stretched our dollars and were able to resolve some longstanding problems around this bridge, with fairly little cost,? said Wilson, a resident of Orion Township.
The project addressed several problems. First, the narrowness of the bridge and the angle of the intersection had resulted in large trucks hitting the guardrails next to the bridge as they struggled to turn after crossing the bridge. Over time, this had pushed the guardrail posts away from the bridge deck, creating a dangerous gap.
Secondly, water from a natural spring near the road, as well as normal rainwater drainage, had caused extensive erosion around the bridge.
To resolve the first problem, RCOC guardrail crews anchored additional beams to the bridge foundation, replaced the damaged guardrails and posts and attached the new posts to the new beams, making the guardrail much more secure. The guardrail crew also installed cedar posts along the edge of an adjacent parking area used by patrons of the nearby Paint Creek Trail. The posts will prevent trail patrons from driving into the new drainage area adjacent to the lot.
To address the water issues, RCOC instructed its contractor to install a 250-foot-long ‘French drain? (a perforated pipe covered by stone and all wrapped in a ‘geo-textile fabric?) along the north side of Clarkston Road just north and east of the bridge. The natural spring in this area had been causing water to percolate up through the road, damaging the road surface. With the new drain, the water will be intercepted on the north side of the road and drained away from the road.
This new drain also is diverting water away from an existing culvert under Clarkston Road just north and east of the bridge, where excessive water was causing significant erosion. Additionally, new cross culverts and ditches were installed along both Clarkston and Kern roads north of the bridge. In the past, water running along the sides of these roads had eroded the gravel surfaces, and contributed to the washout around the guardrail posts.
The work also included replacing a culvert under Clarkston west of the bridge and restored ditches along Kern, south of the bridge. Catch basins and additional culverts were installed in this area to stop water from draining across the road, as it had previously.
To slow traffic approaching the narrow bridge, RCOC realigned the Clarkston/Kern intersection, which will force traffic entering the bridge to reduce speed before doing so.
Additionally, the crews expanded the turning radius at the intersection of Kern and Orion roads, so that eastbound truck traffic that previously would have turned right to head south on Kern and cross the bridge (often hitting the guardrail in the process), can now proceed to Orion Road, where they can more easily turn right.
‘This was an extensive amount of work that was required to resolve the multiple problems around the bridge,? Wilson said. ‘Had we contracted out all of this work it would have cost us significantly more. Fortunately, our crews and engineers are very capable and were able to get a significant amount of the work done in-house, saving taxpayers a lot of money.?