Bridgeport, where Dixie Highway crosses the Cass

Bridgeport Charter Township lies south and east of the City of Saginaw, with its centre about 6.3 miles from downtown Saginaw in a straight line and 6.9 miles from Frankenmuth. Interstate 75 and Dixie Highway both run through it, and the Cass River crosses its southern part on the way to the Saginaw River. It covers about 34.6 square miles of land. The township became a charter township on 4 April 1848, which the Saginaw County Chamber describes as the oldest in Michigan, and the Census Bureau's April 2020 base puts its population at 10,103, with an estimate of 9,874 for July 2025.

Older than the suburbs around it

The 2020 to 2024 Census survey counts 4,643 homes here with a median build year of 1965, older than Thomas Township or Saginaw Township. The 1960s were the busiest decade, with 1,050 homes, followed by the 1970s at 997 and the 1950s at 883. In total 3,871 homes, 83.4 percent, predate 1980, and 485 were built in 1939 or earlier. Only 201, about 4 percent, went up in 2000 or later. Most are single detached houses, 82.0 percent, and 266 are mobile homes. Owners occupy 82.5 percent of occupied homes, and the median owner occupied value is 109,900 dollars.

A house from the 1960s usually means a poured or block basement with a footing drain of clay tile or early plastic. After sixty years, the common complaints are the narrow vertical cracks that poured walls develop as they cure and settle, and drains that have silted or collapsed. A crack that seeps but is not widening is usually a small job; one that is growing, or a wall that is bowing, is a different question. The crack repair page explains how to tell them apart.

The Cass River bottom

The Cass is the reason Bridgeport has a flood history. River stage notes for the Cass, read through a search summary, describe houses near Dixie Highway and Knott Road being cut off when the river is high, with water on both sides of the Dixie Highway bridge, and flooding on the golf course at the line between Bridgeport and Frankenmuth townships. The worst modern event was September 1986, when the National Weather Service in Detroit recorded the Cass at Frankenmuth cresting at 27.52 feet against a flood stage of 17 feet. The USGS keeps a gauge at Dixie Highway near Bridgeport, number 04151700, which is the place to check the river before deciding whether wet floors are flood water or groundwater.

If the river came into the yard, that is flooding, and the township's flood maps and your insurance come first. If the floor is damp in a wet spring with no river water outside, interior drain tile and a sump are the usual answer. Price ranges are on the cost page.

The building department

Permits are handled by the township building department at Township Hall, 6740 Dixie Highway. The township's building codes page, read through a search summary, lists the building official on 989-777-0940 extension 215, with counter hours on weekday mornings from 9 to 11 and afternoons from 4 to 5, and says plans are delivered to the building department for review. Confirm the hours before driving over, and ask which permits a floor cut, pit and pump circuit need for your address.

Nearby

Frankenmuth, upstream on the same river, works through a code authority rather than the city, and Saginaw, to the northwest, still allows footing drains on the sanitary sewer.