The Ile Camera
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
In case of an emergency
Township officials work with government leaders in preparation for bridge closure
PUBLISHED: December 8, 2006
Wayne County has indicated that it will commence reconstruction of the Wayne County Parkway Free Bridge in April.
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Since the conclusion of an August study session the Board of Trustees convened with Wayne County and Grosse Ile residents, when the county gave an update as to the status of the project, the county has continued to engineer the project with the hopes that it will soon go out to bid.
During the monitoring of this project the township regularly contacts the county to confirm its status, and when the county believes it will begin.
Your township, in turn, has been planning as well for the closure of the Wayne County Bridge.
Per discussions with the county, the bridge reconstruction project will entail shutting the bridge down from six to eight months.
The magnitude of this project and the affect on Grosse Ile, its residents and public safety, as you could expect, is tremendous.
The township must not only plan for the closure of the county bridge but also the contingency that the Grosse Ile Toll Bridge might unexpectedly be closed because of mechanical failure or by some extreme damage caused by a recreational or commercial watercraft.
The township, however, will be ready for any occurrence that could affect the safety and welfare of all our residents.
Over the last eight months Police Chief William Barron, Fire Chief Duncan Murdock and I have worked on devising a plan that will not only address the closure of one or both of the bridges, but will also update our emergency plan, which the board adopted in 2003.
I will admit that of all the projects I have worked on over the last 15 years of service with the township, this project is by far the most expansive, for it must consider all contingencies.
During November, we finally resolved several outstanding issues and have begun the final draft of the plan.
In turn, at its meeting Monday, the Board of Trustees will discuss the plan so that the revised and updated plan can be formally adopted at the January board meeting.
Here are highlights of the issues the plan will address:
•Traffic issues in and around Meridian and Bridge roads.
•Better coordination of traffic signals at Meridian/Bridge roads in cooperation with Wayne County.
•National Guard barges on standby to evacuate the island.
•National Guard transports to evacuate the island.
•Coast Guard parameters, which could reduce recreational and commercial boat traffic.
•Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Army Corps of Engineers oversight of the water and the inability of building temporary foot paths, bridge(s), structure(s) etc.
•A transport watercraft that can directly transport patients to Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital.
•Investigation into helicopter transport insurance options.
•Coordination with the township school district including school transportation and radios in all the schools.
•The interaction of sister city fire departments with township departments.
•Meetings with Michigan State Police and National Guard in mid-November so they could evaluate the Grosse Ile "site" and prepare their own specific contingency plans.
•Meetings with our federal Congress/Senate delegation to help coordinate procedures with the Coast Guard.
The township assuredly has one of the most comprehensive emergency preparedness plans in Michigan.
The township recognized early on in the process when we aided the county in securing funding for the remediation of the bridge that the extended closure of the county bridge necessitated modifying and molding our plan to address even more contingencies.
With this in mind, we have met with federal and state agencies including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and recently Chief Murdock and I attended an evacuation seminar to provide us even greater insights into large-scale evacuations.
With this in mind, in late October our emergency response officials and the township board put our plan through a test when we conducted a "tabletop" training scenario which worked through an emergency event affecting not only the Downriver communities but, more significantly, the township of Grosse Ile.
In my opinion we have the best Police and Fire departments of any community in Michigan. By updating and addressing our plan, in relation to the county bridge closure, our residents' safety is only enhanced.
If you should have any questions regarding the planned closure or how the township plans to address the many issues that might confront island residents, please feel free to contact either myself, Chief Murdock or Chief Barron.
In the alternative, please come to our board meeting Monday so that you can listen to the updated plan and provide any comments you may have.
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