When Was the State St. Bridge Between Leslie & Jackson Torn Down?

Okay, here's a stumper that some of you may know the answer to...because I sure don't.

Every time I drive north between Jackson and Leslie, I always notice the demolished bridge over the Grand River. I'm old enough to remember when auto travel over the bridge existed, and then – POOF – it was gone. Torn down. My question has two parts:

1) Why was it torn down?
2) How long has it been torn down?

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If you head south on State Street from Leslie, or north on State from Berry Road, you'll eventually come to the dead end where the bridge is out. Ever since the bridge disappeared, the area became a place for smoochers to park, and people to fish (in fact, when I stopped to get a few photos, there was a guy fishing. I asked how the fishing was and he said “it's OK...once I even snagged a gun”. He took the gun to the police).

Even before the bridge was taken down, people would go there to fish.

I can only surmise that the main reason for the bridge to be dismantled was due to crumbling concrete and rotting wood...just a guess. But my other question remains: how long has it been? When was it destroyed? Better yet, why don't they ever rebuild it and make the road complete again? They've been sockin' money into all this road construction over the past few years (even on roads that don't need it), so why not throw some dough toward State Street and get that bridge fixed once and for all?

See the photos below...