Avon Road Bridge Starting to Come Down Today in Rochester Hills

You'll have to find another east-west route through town for a few months: the rebuilding of the Avon Bridge was scheduled to start today.

The bridge will be closed until June 15.

The . Last February it was found to be rapidly deteriorating; all but one lane in each direction has been closed since then. In a finding that compounded traffic congestion at the busy Avon-Livernois intersection, the Livernois Bridge was also discovered shortly after to be deteriorating. The Livernois Bridge will be replaced next year.

During the closure, the detour route for through traffic will be Livernois Road to Hamlin Road to Rochester Road and vice versa, according to the Road Commission. Livernois will remain open at the Avon Road intersection.

Avon Road will be completely closed at the bridge, but local traffic accessing homes, businesses and east of the bridge will be allowed to use Avon Road east of the bridge (accessing the road from Rochester Road).

The Avon Bridge project involves removing and replacing the bridge over the Clinton River just east of Livernois. The new bridge will be constructed of pre-stressed concrete and contain the same five lanes as the existing bridge. The project will include repaving, new guardrails and relocation of a water main.

The work will be performed by Dan's Excavating of Shelby Township.

Check out our live traffic before you head out. You can also keep up with live traffic from your mobile device by downloading the Patch app (a tab for live, local traffic is included in the app).