For the second time in 10 days, a truck hit the 100th Street overpass at northbound US-131 in Byron Township. A vehicle carrying a mobile home scraped the bottom of the bridge on Monday afternoon, Jan. 22.
There were shards of debris on the side of the road, said Stacy Peterson, who arrived on scene shortly after the collision.
"I took pictures of the big chunks of whatever it is that must've fallen off the truck," Peterson said. "But there was no trucks or trailers to be found."
The truck didn't stop at the scene and was pulled over near College Avenue in Grand Rapids, said John Richard, MDOT spokesperson.
"So it looks like a hit and run, they tried to get away," Richard said. "But no additional damage was done to the bridge."
The impact from the Jan. 13 collision by two semi-trucks, owned by an out-of-state transport company, knocked both steel beams off the north and south ends of the bridge.
"We're going to go for the insurance money to cover the damage to the bridge," Richard said. "But, of course, that's not going to pay for any replacement or upgrades to the bridge, which will exceed probably $10-15 million."
MDOT hopes to split the cost with Byron Township and the Kent County Road Commission, he said. The three groups will meet Wednesday morning to discuss costs and if they will renovate or replace the bridge.
"We're looking at design, but the biggest issue is ordering those steel beams will take at least six months," Richard said. "We want to get the bridge open as quickly as possible, so all offers are on the table right now."
J & H Family Stores says the closure is hurting local businesses already.
"About 40 percent of our business is down," said Sue Hensley, cashier at J & H. "A lot [of our customers] come from over the bridge. There's a bunch of businesses on the other side, and they usually stop in before they go to work or lunch."
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