The Herbert C. Jackson on the Rouge River

I saw that a ship would be heading up the Rouge.  It's been a while since I've caught a ship going up the Rouge, so I headed over there to get pictures.

I even took my drone with me because the drone works really well in this spot.

The Herbert C. Jackson was coming down from Marquette with a load of taconite.

Here she is passing the Fort Street Bridge.

She would be heading to the Rouge River steel mill.

This is a run she's done many times.

It's also a run that is roughly three days round trip.

I like catching ships here because you can get fairly close to them.

And they look pretty cool on the river.

Sadly, it was cloudy and a little windy.

She approaches the Dix Avenue Bridge.

And comes out on the other side.

Her launch.

She starts to make the turn for the steel mill slip.

The steel mill in the back ground.

I love this shot.

The stern shot sporting the name of a port she will never visit but that's where she is registered.

One more shot before moving on.

The Cut River Bridge

 I've been meaning to get to the Cut River at some point.  Since boat traffic was very sparse until later in the day, I decided to head over.

The Cut River Bridge is also called the Heath Michael Robinson Bridge after 2014.  It was named after a Navy SEAL that was killed in Afghanistan.

The Cut River Bridge is a steel deck cantilevered bridge.  It is one of two in Michigan.  The other one is on M55.

It was built in 1947 by W.J. Meagher and Sons.

It spans 300 feet.

It is 147 feet tall.

It looks pretty cool.

I'll have to get over here in the fall, I would imagine it would look really cool then.

The 95th Street Bridge

 I saw that I possibly had a chance to catch the Alpena as she was leaving Chicago, so I decided to head over there.  I didn't care if I could get a good view but there was one place where I had to go catch her and that was the 95th Street Bridge.

Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows that I am a huge fan of the Blues Brothers.  It is easily one of my top ten movies.  It is one of the movies I can watch repeatedly and not get tired of it.

This bridge is famous because of that movie.  This is the bridge that Elwood jumps over as he trying to beat the W.W. Holloway.  This was just after his brother was complaining because he picked him from prison in a police car.  Sadly, my car doesn't a cigarette lighter.

I didn't catch the Alpena because she stayed longer than I expected.  She ended up leaving sometime after dark.  She is heading to Muskegon tomorrow, I might consider catching her there.

The Grosse Ile Bridge

 Since Grosse Ile is an island, you have to take a bridge to get over to.  There are two bridges that connect the island.  The other bridge is the Wayne County Bridge and it is free.

This one is the Grosse Ile Toll Bridge and is $5 to cross.  But that $5 is both ways, so I guess it's not too bad.

The bridge was built in 2013 and based on the fact there is a Ferry Road, I assume it replaced a ferry that went from the mainland to the island.  This one is a swing bridge and reminds me of a bridge that used to be in Bay City.

The Fort Street Bridge

 The new Fort Street Bridge replaced the old Fort Street Bridge.  The old Fort Street was a deck truss bascule bridge similar to the Dix Avenue Bridge.  It was also similar to many of the Bridge built in Chicago (in fact, it had the same builders).  It was built in 1920.  The bridge was the site of the Ford Hunger March in 1932.

However, years of neglect forced the Michigan Department of Transportation to build a new bridge here.  It is a single leaf bascule bridge and is the heaviest in the world.  It also has the second largest area in the world.

The old bridge was demolished in 2013 and construction of this one started shortly after.  This was a sore spot for many of the residents in the area because this one was under construction and then the Jefferson Avenue Bridge was hit.  That left one working (barely) bridge in this area.  I think they are going to have to repair that one soon.  Anyway, it is a cool looking bridge.

The Bridge Supports for the Gordie Howe International Bridge

 This bridge has been a long time making and it seems like it is finally coming to fruition.  In 2004, this bridge was proposed as the Detroit River International Crossing.  It wasn't meant to replace either the Ambassador Bride or the Windsor Tunnel but was meant as a way of re-routing truck traffic around Windsor rather than through Windsor.

The main reason for this bridge is that the Ambassador Bridge can not keep up with the truck traffic that has increased considerably since the passage of NAFTA in the early 90's.  Also, the people of Windsor do not like the amount of truck traffic that passes through their town.  When the Ambassador Bridge was built, there wasn't much in the area that its exit passes through, over the years, that has been built up and now it is a neighborhood in its own right.  Also when it was built, trucks weren't nearly as big as they are and the company that maintains the Bridge has a hard enough time keeping up with it.

Anyway, the Ambassador Bridge was owned by Matty Maroun and he was not interested in having another bridge to compete with his.  People in both the Canadian and US governments were kind of surprised that an international crossing was owned privately.  And for years, they tried to get him to upgrade his maintenance.

To make a long story short, Matty Maroun fought this bridge tooth and nail.  He used his connections in the Michigan legislature to block any state founding.  He used his connections to the US legislature to block any funding  there.  I think he even used his connections to block funding from Canada.   He even pushed for a ballot initiative that would have made it even more difficult to fund the bridge.  That failed.  Shortly after that, Canada decided they would fund the bridge and the US can pay back through tolls.  That was acceptable to both sides.

I think construction was supposed to start earlier last year but then COVID hit.  Now that they've figured out how to control things, construction has started.  This bridge will be a suspension bridge like the one in Toledo and should look pretty nice.  It is supposed to be completed by 2024.

The Delhi Bridge From the Air

 So I thought I was going to head over to Grand Haven today.  Unfortunately, I got a late start and I decided to take the back roads over.  I headed over to Huron River Drive, then to North Territorial, M-52 and then M-21.  More on that in the next post.

As I was driving down Huron River Drive, I decided that I wanted a picture of one of the truss bridges.  Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a spot to park near the other one.  There is spot near this one.

As I launched my drone, I realized that were lots of trees around this bridge, so I didn't take the drone lower.  It was windy but not terribly windy.  I wasn't getting the high wind warnings but my drone was acting funny.

Of these pictures, I think I like this one the best.  I know that I'm gonna have to come back this way.  Maybe have a seat by those benches so I could get a better bead on my drone.

The Cuyahoga on the Saginaw River

 So it was the moment I was waiting for.  I couldn't check for the Cuyahoga on my normal AIS but the boatnerd AIS was showing where she was and I saw that she was close.  At any rate, I'd rather get there too early than too late.

The Cuyahoga rounded the bend near the park I was at.  In this picture, she looks like she ready to pounce on something.

As I said in the previous post, there was a walleye tournament going on.  For the most part, the river was clear when I got there but I think it was filling up as the day went on.

A nice fall shot.

She continues around the bend.

I kind of like this one with the trees in the background.  It's a shame I didn't get it a week sooner.

There was still quite a bit of color though.

My almost bow shot.

And my bow shot.

She moves closer to me.

And closer.  It was a nice sunny day but it was a little on the cold side.

I just wish the water were calmer.  I've seen pictures on the Saginaw River where the reflection is almost perfect.

I could see somewhat of a reflection.

Just love the sky.

A shot of her pilothouse.

And her flags.  The flag with the Blackhawk on it is the company flag not a flag for the team.

Her stack.

And she continues down the river.

So I headed over to a park by the Independence Bridge.  I wanted to get my drone a little bit of a work out.  It was a little bit on the windy side but not too bad.

The Independence Bridge opened in 1976 and connects Trumbull Street to Wilder Road.  It replaced the Belinda Street Bridge (which I never saw) which was a swing bridge like the one that connects Grosse Ile.

It's been smacked by a ship at least one.  In 1986, there was heavy flooding in Bay City and a ship got wedged against the Bridge.  Not sure how much damage was done in those instances but it couldn't help.

I think the bridge was sold to another company.  I'm not sure if they are going to replace it but I heard that they were going to start charging a toll to get across.  I'm not sure how well that will work for them since there are four bridges that cross the Saginaw River in Bay City.  Two of them are state highways, so I'm not sure a toll can be charged on those.

At any rate, it was nice get a chance to get some different angles of the Cuyahoga because she was moving slow enough for me.

She passes the Wirt Stone dock before continuing down the River.

I headed to another spot to catch her as she was leaving the Veterans Bridge.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the right angle to catch her as she was passing through the bridge.

I'm not sure how much longer the Cuyahoga will be in service but she is looking pretty rough.

Even though you can't see it very well, the Veterans Bridge opened in 1957 (the same year as the Mackinac Bridge).  Like the Independence Bridge, it is a bascule bridge.  It was also Bay City's first four lane.  It is the continuation of M-25 until I-75.

I don't know if there were any incidents with this bridge but Veteran's Memorial Park behind it used to be one of the top party spots in the late 70's.

So I went for my drone again.  This time I was going to keep it at a higher angle to get more of an overhead view.

I kind of like this view.

I didn't want to put my drone directly overhead though.

If you look between the shore and the Cuyahoga, you can see another fishing boat.

And she continues on.

Even though this is mostly a stern shot, I like it.

And she moves on.

I decided to head to one more spot before moving on.  I figured I could get it again.

I kind of liked the light better here.  I also liked that it was mostly trees in the background.

I think it was duck season because every so often it would sound like London during the Blitz.

Almost a headshot.

And the headshot.  I like this one a little bit better because the light is more even on it.

And she starts to pass.

I decided to switch to my drone again.  This time I was trying for a lower angle.

I think I like this angle a little better than the higher angle.  I still get a decent shot of the deck but it looks more like what I'm used to.

The river was a little calmer here.  I could see the reflection better.

The almost beam shot.

And she continues one.

She was heading to a dock in Saginaw.  I assume she was delivering stone.  At any rate, it was nice to catch a ship on the Saginaw River.