A 27-year-old Bay City man died yesterday morning after a multi-vehicle crash involving his motorcycle on the Veterans Memorial Bridge, shutting down both directions of the span for roughly two hours and choking off traffic across a city already squeezed by a years-long bridge crisis. Police say the man was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering injuries in the collision, which happened just before noon.
According to WSMH, the crash occurred around 11:39 a.m. yesterday, per the Bay City Department of Public Safety, and involved multiple vehicles. The bridge was closed in both directions to traffic for approximately two hours while investigators worked the scene, and police say the crash remains under investigation. Officers noted that involved parties showed no indication of impaired driving, per police.
The Bay City Department of Public Safety is asking anyone with information to come forward. Tips can be shared with the department at 989-892-8571, with Bay County Central Dispatch's non-emergency line at 989-892-9551, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-422-JAIL (5245), via the P3 mobile app, or at p3tips.com, where photos and videos can also be uploaded.
A Closure That Paralyzes the Whole City
Any shutdown of the Veterans Memorial Bridge lands especially hard on Bay City drivers right now, because the state-owned span carrying M-25 across the Saginaw River is the only publicly owned, toll-free river crossing left in a city that normally has four. As Bay City's government notes, the bridge is owned and operated by the Michigan Department of Transportation, distinguishing it from two other crossings the city leased to a private operator.
That private operator, which runs the Liberty and Independence bridges, began charging tolls in 2023 and raised rates again in 2025, according to Michigan Enjoyer. Facing toll fees ranging from $2 to $5.50 per crossing, many local drivers shifted their commutes onto the free M-25 route instead, adding to congestion that Hoodline previously covered in its report on steep toll hikes squeezing drivers.
Meanwhile, the Lafayette Street Bridge, which once carried more than 17,000 vehicles a day, has been closed since demolition began in December 2024 as part of a $113.6 million replacement project that is not expected to reopen until 2027, according to Construction Equipment Guide. With that crossing gone and the other two tolled, the Veterans Memorial Bridge has become the default route for non-commercial traffic throughout the region, meaning any closure there ripples across the entire city.
A Bridge With a History of Serious Crashes
Yesterday's fatal crash was not the first serious motorcycle collision on the span. In May 2018, the Bay City Department of Public Safety investigated another critical crash on the Veterans Memorial Bridge after a 47-year-old motorcyclist crossed the concrete median into oncoming traffic, striking an eastbound passenger car and closing the bridge for three hours while critically injuring himself.
Built in 1957, the Veterans Memorial Bridge is a double-leaf bascule drawbridge that opens on signal for river shipping between April 15 and December 31 each year. MDOT completed a $1.6 million maintenance and structural improvement project on the bridge between December 2025 and this past spring, which included overnight test openings of its drawbridge mechanism in late March, work that was scheduled at night specifically to limit disruptions while the Lafayette Street Bridge remained closed.
Michigan's Broader Motorcycle Safety Picture
Under Michigan law, motorcycle riders 21 and older are permitted to ride without a helmet if they have held a motorcycle endorsement for at least two years, or completed an approved safety course, and carry at least $20,000 in first-party medical benefits insurance, according to Christensen Law. Michigan repealed its universal helmet mandate in 2012. It remains unknown whether the Bay City man was wearing a helmet at the time of Thursday's crash.
Statewide, motorcycle crashes remain a significant safety concern. Michigan recorded 3,056 motorcycle crashes in 2023 alone, resulting in 165 motorcyclist deaths and 2,394 injuries, according to the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. State safety data also show that a large majority of multi-vehicle motorcycle collisions in Michigan, 84 percent, happen on multi-lane roadways like the Veterans Memorial Bridge. The exact sequence of events that led to Thursday's crash has not been released, and police have not said what role, if any, traffic congestion on the bridge may have played.
