By NORMA LERNER
Dowagiac Daily News

CASSOPOLIS – Workers will be starting soon on repairs to the Redfield Street Bridge over Christiana Creek in Ontwa Township.

Chief Engineer Joseph Bellina III reported Thursday morning during a meeting of the Cass County Road Commission that high water from recent rain delayed the repairs slated to start this week.

“The contractor hoped to be in there (repairing), and now it will be next week. We had two days of rain … water went up.”

He said on Monday, Sept. 28, the water diversion process is to begin.

Water diversion will be accomplished by placing rip-rap dike structures up and downstream of the structure to isolate the side to be repaired from the moving water.

Redfield Street has been closed at the bridge since June after high water caused erosion to the structure, and the guardrails became unsafe.

In another water-eroded structure, the Mason Street culvert is also slated for repair near Lafferty Lake in Mason Township.

It floods about every spring, Bellina said, from the swamp on the south side of the road.
He said the culvert failed this spring, and a bigger structure will be installed to take care of the matter. The street west of Calvin Center Road will be closed Oct. 11 for one week.