Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

The Road Commission for Oakland County on Monday, Nov. 18, will close the Spaulding Road bridge over the Novi-Lyon Drain in Lyon Township and the Emburke Boulevard bridge over the Clinton River in Waterford Township due to their deteriorated conditions.

Spaulding Road is a gravel road and carries about 370 vehicles per day. Emburke is a subdivision street, and the Road Commission does not maintain traffic counts for subdivision streets.

RCOC plans to replace the Spaulding Road bridge in 2025 and the Emburke Blvd. bridge in 2026, when funding becomes available for each. However, both bridges will remain closed in the meantime.

During the Spaulding Road closure, the detour route for traffic is 11 Mile Road west to Pontiac Trail north to Pontiac Trail east to Milford Road south to 12 Mile Road west to Spaulding Road and vice versa. There is no official detour route for Emburke Boulevard because it is in a subdivision and there are alternate routes within the subdivision.

“While these bridges are not at risk of immediately collapsing, in an abundance of caution, we opted to close both now rather than risk motorists driving on them as they continue to deteriorate,” stated RCOC Managing Director Dennis Kolar.

“The good news is we have identified funding that will allow us to replace both bridges. Unfortunately, we have to wait until the funding is available.”