Cut River Bridge

Cut River Bridge is a cantilevered steel deck bridge over the Cut River in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located along U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) in Hendricks Township, Mackinac County, between Epoufette and Brevort, about 25mi northwest of St. Ignace and the Straits of Mackinac. 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 641ft long and contains 888ST of structural steel. The bridge carries traffic on US 2 above and spans the Cut River Valley, 147ft below.HistoryThe 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, construction on the bridge was halted until after the war.Legislation passed in 2014 by the Michigan Legislature named the bridge after Heath Michael Robinson, a fallen member of the Navy SEALs who was killed on August 6, 2011 in Wardak, Afghanistan when their Chinook helicopter came under fire.