GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (via WOOD TV) — As hundreds of thousands of cars get ready to cross the drawbridge in Grand Haven this holiday weekend, the Michigan Department of Transportation says upgrades to prevent the bridge from stalling are working well.
"The bridge is fully operational for the holidays. It's fine right now,” Christopher Idusuyi, a structures emergency response engineer with MDOT, said Wednesday.
On an average day, about 60,000 cars pass over the Grand Haven drawbridge, MDOT says. On peak summer holidays, it's more like 120,000 cars per day.
Last Memorial Day weekend was the first time the drawbridge got stuck going down, causing a massive traffic backup. The bridge malfunctioned several times after that.
Since then, MDOT has made upgrades and tested opening and closing the bridge between 40 and 50 times with no problems, it says. In fact, officials say, the bridge now opens and closes more quickly.
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