Ypsilanti’s push for federal funds to repair the Cross Street Bridge highlights the economic challenges small cities face and the critical need for specialized grant support.
Like many Upper Midwest cities, Ypsilanti, Michigan, has a proud but painful automotive history. Ford began making cars there in the 1920s. But the plant closed two decades ago, leaving a huge empty building and forcing many workers to move away or take lower-paying jobs.
“We haven’t recovered from that economically,” says Bonnie Wessler, the city’s director of public services. Ypsilanti’s median household income, $41,914, is far below the national average of $74,580.
The city, population about 20,000, embraces its manufacturing past, even as it seeks state and federal help for infrastructure projects such as maintaining its four bridges. One in particular—the Cross Street Bridge over the Huron River—needs repairs soon, an engineering study found.
Built in the early 1980s, it’s a “box span” bridge, a style that allows water intrusion and “no one uses any more,” Wessler says. “We would love to replace the bridge,” she says, but the cost is prohibitive. The city instead plans to replace the superstructure and repair existing piers, at a projected cost of $6.5 million. “We’re looking for all sorts of money” to do the job, Wessler says.
The city hopes $3 million will come from the batch of federal infrastructure grants provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and similar programs recently enacted by Congress. For guidance in crafting a strong grant application, Ypsilanti turned to the Local Infrastructure Hub, a philanthropic consortium that is helping more than 1,300-plus mostly small and mid-sized cities in such efforts, throughout the country.
In 2022, Ypsilanti contracted an engineering team that determined the Cross Street Bridge has only 10 safe years remaining in its current form, so the clock is ticking.
The bridge, flanked by two public parks, is a short walk from the Eastern Michigan University campus. Beneath it is the popular Border to Border Trail, which Wessler says is important for recreation and non-motorized transit.
The bridge is literally and figuratively central to life in Ypsilanti. Vehicles are barred during festivals, so residents and visitors have a picturesque place to celebrate, dance, eat, and drink.
Wessler participated in grant-writing bootcamps provided free by the Local Infrastructure Hub, which is anchored by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Other key funders include the Ballmer Group, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation, and The Kresge Foundation. Collaborators include the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, Results for America, and Delivery Associates. Through bootcamps and trainings, the initiative has provided expert technical assistance and hands-on grant-writing support to more than 1,200 municipalities nationwide.
Wessler says the bootcamps provided valuable insights into how to apply for funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bridge Improvement Program.
“It really helped me figure out what the federal agencies are looking for,” she says. “Not just the numbers on the page, but the story behind it.”
Wessler urges other cities to explore the Local Infrastructure Hub’s programs, which sometimes feature question-and-answer sessions with other cities. “It helps us think things through,” she says, “which is really useful.”
“In a perfect world,” Wessler says, “I’d have someone wave a magic wand and back up a dump truck full of money.” Absent such a world, she says, she’s grateful for help from federal grants and from the Local Infrastructure Hub.
