The final details for the opening of the new Main Street Bridge in Niles will be ironed out this week.

Tim Harris, co-manager of the project with the Michigan Department of Transportation, said Thursday that his office is reviewing potential plans for how the opening will be celebrated.

One possible option could be allowing people to walk the bridge before it is officially opened to traffic.

“They basically let people park outside the property and walk and see it first hand,” he said, adding that nothing yet has been set in stone.

Harris said a progress meeting is scheduled for Tuesday with Niles officials and that the details would likely be worked out at the meeting or shortly thereafter.

The $10.6 million project began in October 2014 with the deconstruction of the old bridge, which had spanned the St. Joseph River for 90 years.

Harris said they are still on track to open the bridge to traffic Nov. 25, although weather could play a role in whether or not that date is adhered to.

“We are still shooting for that,” he said.

Workers recently finished constructing the sidewalks on the bridge and are in the process of making the sidewalks, ramps and concrete paving on the road leading up to the bridge.

In the coming days, Harris said workers would finish up concrete paving on roads adjacent to the bridge, install railing on the bridge and do other finishing work.

Anyone who has walked by the bridge lately likely noticed two structures on the east side of the bridge called “rain gardens.”

Harris said the rain gardens would be filled from the bottom up with a drainage layer of rock, a layer of composted soil, a layer of bark mulch and then decorative plants on top.

“It is a more natural way of capturing drainage off the road than shoving it into a storm sewer and letting it flow right back into the river,” he said. “The plants will use that water and will filter it too. It will be a little bit cleaner if it does end up back in the river.”

Harris said rain gardens aren’t meant to be walked on.

“Think of them being in a swamp or a wetland,” he said. “You could walk through that area, but they primarily grow in areas where people don’t traffic over them on a daily basis.”

Plants varieties planned for the rain gardens include maiden grass, prairie dropseed, three types of asters and a serviceberry.