Cut River Bridge is a cantilevered steel deck bridge over the Cut River

Cut River

Cut River is a small, short river in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The 4-mile river runs along the boundary between Hendricks Township and Moran Township, with the mouth on Lake Michigan about two miles east of Epoufette and about four miles west of Brevort.It drains part of...

 in the Upper Peninsula

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...

 of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. It is located along U.S. Highway 2

U.S. Route 2 in Michigan

US Highway 2 is a component of the United States Numbered Highway System that connects Everett, Washington, to the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan, with a separate segment that runs from Rouses Point, New York, to Houlton, Maine...

 (US 2) in Hendricks Township

Hendricks Township, Michigan

Hendricks Township is a civil township of Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 183 at the 2000 census.- Communities :...

, Mackinac County, between Epoufette and Brevort, about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of St. Ignace

St. Ignace, Michigan

Saint Ignace, usually written as St. Ignace, is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,678. It is the county seat of Mackinac County. From the Lower Peninsula, St. Ignace is the gateway to the Upper Peninsula.St...

 and the Straits of Mackinac

Straits of Mackinac

The Straits of Mackinac is the strip of water that connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and separates the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a shipping lane providing passage for raw materials and finished goods, connecting, for...

There is a long but not often traversed wooden staircase to the valley below that was constructed some time after the construction of the bridge itself.

The bridge was built in 1947 and is one of only two cantilevered deck truss bridges in Michigan, it is 641 feet (195.4 m) long and contains 888 ST (792.9 LT; 805.6 t) of structural steel. The bridge carries traffic on US 2 above and spans the Cut River Valley, 147 feet (45 m) below.

History

The State Highway Department designed this structure, and W.J. Meager and Sons, Contractors, built it. Actual construction began in 1941. Due to the demand for steel during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, construction on the bridge was halted until after the war.

Construction

The bridge is a steel deck cantilever bridge

Cantilever bridge

A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from...

. The structure has extensive latticing on its members, which are all very massive. The bridge retains original standard-plan metal guardrails on the sidewalks that flank the roadway on each side.