Whites Bridge isn’t in such good shape. It’s a covered bridge, and with a lot of support and know-how from some Michigan Tech alumni, the project is taking shape. Here’s where you come in: the Whites Bridge Historical Society is holding a raffle with some fantastic prizes. Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25 and can be purchased online.
The prizes? The grand prize is a Mackinac Bridge Tower Tour for two! That is so cool! If someone wins and wants someone to accompany them, I’m your guy. Other prizes include a Pictured Rocks cruise and two nights of lodging; a visit to the Shipwreck Museum and dinner and lodging at the Tahquamenon Lodge, and a golf trip to the Jewel on Mackinac Island, with dinner and transportation—via the Star Line—included.
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been spreading the word, and it’s another testament to the initiative and determination of our alumni community that this is getting done.
This one takes some explaining, so please let me cut and paste from a couple of different emails.
from Tom Byle ’72:
Father-daughter Tech grads CE 72 and 05 donating their time to rebuild the Whites Bridge. Raffle tickets available for a trip to the Top of the Mac plus prize trips to the UP. What could be better than any of these prizes?
from Jennifer Byle ’05:
I am a member of a running group here in Grand Rapids that used Whites Bridge Road as one of our long run routes. It is the best route ever, it goes down dirt roads, through rolling farmland, and not one, but TWO historic covered bridges (Fallasburg in Lowell, and Whites Bridge in Ionia County). When Whites Bridge was destroyed by arson in July 2013 it not only wiped out 146 years of history, but also took out one of my favorite running routes.
A Facebook group named Rebuild Whites Bridge popped up and I started lurking to see what, if anything was going to be done to rebuild. Support was high for it to be rebuilt, people were offering up acres of trees, talking about having barn-raising parties and hiring the Amish to rebuild it. I emailed the admin of the group and explained who I was and gave a brief summary of how road and bridge construction projects work. He kept on asking more questions so I finally gave his contact info to my dad since I knew he was the Kent County Road Commission project engineer for the Ada Covered Bridge rebuild after that one was destroyed by arson in 1980, and he also knows the managing director and county engineer for the Ionia County Road Commission.
So now dad is involved…long story short is that the facebook group eventually turned into the Whites Bridge Historical Society. Our goal is to raise the funds needed to rebuild the bridge and once the bridge is built, funds for maintenance, preservation and educational activities. I was elected a trustee of the board, and dad was elected vice chairman. When the previous chairman stepped down, he took over as chairman. He is donating his time to the Ionia County Road Commission to manage the design/construction process, and through URS (now AECOM) I am donating my time on the design/plan production side of things. The tentative rebuild date will be in 2017 since the Ionia County Road Commission was awarded a local bridge fund grant for that year; provided that the rest of the funds are raised and plans completed.
Thanks!
Jen