Veterans Memorial Bridge (Bay City, Michigan)

Veterans Memorial Bridge
Coordinates	43°35′46.65″N 83°53′37.02″W / 43.5962917°N 83.8936167°W
Carries	M-25
Crosses	Saginaw River
Locale	Bay City, Michigan
Official name	Veterans Memorial Bridge
Maintained by	Michigan Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Design	Bascule bridge
Total length	916 Feet
History
Opened	1957
Statistics
Toll	None

The Veterans Memorial Bridge is a drawbridge located in Bay City, Michigan. It carries State Highway M-25 over the Saginaw River. Its location is just south of Wenona Park (on the east side of the river), and Veteran's Park (on the west side).

History

The Veterans Memorial Bridge opened in 1957, the same year as the Mackinac Bridge. It was also Bay City's first four-lane bridge.^[1] The bridge was built to carry a rerouted section of M-25 (which was also concurrent with U.S. Route 23 Business (US 23 Bus.) up until 1960) over the Saginaw River. These route designations previously crossed the river a short distance north on the Third Street Bridge.^[2] Despite the reroute, the Third Street Bridge would remain in service until its collapse in 1976 and would be physically replaced by the Liberty Bridge.^[3]

The Veterans Memorial Bridge was temporarily closed to road traffic on July 7, 2012, for the Bay City Fireworks Festival. Over 5,000 shells were launched from the surface of the bridge in celebration of Independence Day.^[4]

References

1. "Bay County Historical Events Time Line". Bay Journal.
2. "M-25". Michigan Highways. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
3. Younkman, Tim (3 June 2011). "Bay City changed forever the day the Third Street Bridge broke". M Live. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
4. "50th annual Bay City fireworks display goes out with a bang, wows crowd".

External links

• Bridge schedule

• 
  A large freighter passing through the Veterans Memorial Bridge on the Saginaw River
• 
  The Veterans Memorial Bridge at night
• 
  Bay City's popular Princess Wenonah river cruise passing under the Veteran's Memorial Bridge