South Pointe Drive/Frenchman's Creek Bridge

As a well-documented and attractive example of Wayne County Road Commission design, and as a product of a federal Depression-era relief program, the South Pointe Drive Bridge qualifies for the National Register under Criterion A. In the mid-1930s, the Wayne County Road Commission took ownership from the township of a four-span, timber trestle bridge at this site under provisions of the McNitt Act. Upon initial inspection, county engineers found that the bridge had good concrete abutments and appeared to be in reasonable condition, requiring only deck replanking. During preliminary work for the replanking, however, the crew discovered that dry rot had substantially weakened the substructure, necessitating immediate replacement. Lacking money to undertake the project, the county turned to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which agreed to supply labor. The existing concrete abutments were modified to accommodate a new 40-foot concrete T-beam span. Wood forms from a WPA grade separation project on West Road were reused to shape the bridge's concrete deck. Since the crossing provided the only access to Grosse Ile's South Pointe, traffic was detoured over a temporary bridge during the construction. The road commission's 1937-1938 annual report predicted that the new bridge 'with an ornamental concrete handrail will present a pleasing appearance.' The bridge plate is dated 1939, suggesting that the final work on the structure was completed in that year.

Frenchman's Creek runs between a small land mass, South Pointe, and the southwest end of Grosse Ile. A deep well, which provided two million gallons of water daily, was discovered near South Pointe in 1909 by 'wildcat operators drilling for oil,' according to a guidebook produced in 1941. The area around Frenchman's Creek is developed with post-World War II residences. The South Pointe Drive Bridge, a single, 44-foot, concrete T-beam span, connects South Pointe and Grosse Ile. The bridge, which predates the adjacent residences, has a 26-foot-wide, asphalt-covered concrete deck carrying a 20-foot-wide roadway, and an attractive concrete balustrade railing with urn-shaped spindles. A bridge plate at the northwest end of the railing reads: 'Works Progress Administration, South Pointe Bridge, Job No. 455, Sponsored by Board of Wayne County Road Commissioners ... AD 1939.' Concrete abutments and angled concrete wing walls serve to support the structure.