JR Manning

Why is it that in Wisconsin, even when you drive a wooden stake through the heart of a really bad idea, it keeps coming back to life, refusing to just die and go away?

In Door County, a battle has been raging over a bridge for about a fifteen years. Back in 2002, the State of Wisconsin DOT, working with the City of Sturgeon Bay, agreed to build a new bridge across Sturgeon Bay and renovate the old Michigan Street Bridge, a beautiful example of a multi-span, through truss and a rare Scherzer-type rolling lift bascule bridge. A citizens group, Citizens for our Bridge, Inc., has been working tirelessly to save the structure, including hosting an annual four-day music festival to raise funds to save the bridge. (See Steel Bridge Songfest for more information on the 2009 festival.)  The new bridge has been built, it is set to open any day now, and the citizens of Sturgeon Bay are excited in anticipation of their iconic steel bridge being renovated.

Until last week, that is. Chairman of the Door County Board, Leo Zipperer, has asked Governor Jim Doyle to consider removing the historic Michigan Street Bridge in Sturgeon Bay. He wrote a letter to the governor, suggesting that the state has higher priorities than renovating the 70-year-old bridge. In an interview with WBAY television news (the ABC affiliate in Green Bay) Zipperer said he doesn’t want to see the bridge totally removed, just the troublesome bascule span.

Sturgeon Bay Alderman Jim Michaud thinks it’s ridiculous to tear down the bridge. In in the same report from WBAY Michaud said, “That’s the busiest street and the busiest thoroughfare in Door County.” While the new Oregon Street Bridge, due to open any day now, will relieve a great deal of traffic from the historical bridge, restoration will keep two extra traffic lanes open across the bay. “You can’t spend it in a better place,” Michaud said.

“To replace it, we now know takes $33 million. To repair it is a $14 million project, so it’s money well spent,” Michaud said.

Michigan Street Bridge, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
The bridge was built in 1930 and renovated in 1979. It has 12
through truss approach spans and the only overhead-truss, Scherzer-type,
double-leaf, rolling-lift bascule bridge in the state of Wisconsin.

Photo by David Yates, August 2008 Image © and Courtesy of Historic Bridges of the United States

No one seems to have estimated what it would cost to remove the bridge. As my friend, Professor Kevin Patrick from Indiana University of Pennsylvania says, “Bridges are expensive to put up, expensive to maintain, and expensive to tear down.” It’s already been decided to renovate the bridge, according to officials of the Wisconsin DOT. Those plans were announced on March 7, 2002 but since Jim Doyle has become governor, we’ve learned that you can’t really count on anything from Madison anymore. If the Governor is going to seriously consider overruling the Department of Transportation decision, then the cost of removing the bridge vs. the incremental cost of renovating the bridge should be considered. The better choice? Leave everything in place and renovate the beautiful old bridge.

Leo Zipperer stated that the money could be better spent due to the current economy. The American economy has always had ups and downs, but the effects of the economy are short term, while removal of the bridge is permanent. After it’s gone, it will be missed and when it’s decided that two extra traffic lanes across the bay are needed, as Jim Michaud said, it will cost $33 million to replace the bridge. That’s in 2008 dollars, who knows what it would cost to build a new bridge 10 years from now?

The concept of keeping the truss spans but removing the bascule span is just a dumb idea. That would be about as useful as making a pair of jean cut-offs by keeping the legs and throwing away the shorts.

I agree with Michaud, the renovation is money well spent to keep the extra traffic lanes open but that is just the added benefit of preserving a living piece of history, an icon of Sturgeon Bay, Door County and the State of Wisconsin.

The draw span of the 1,420 foot Michigan Street Bridge is
the only example of an overhead-truss, Scherzer-type, double-leaf,
rolling-lift bascule in the State of Wisconsin. Overhead truss
construction was utilized when a movable span was subject
to great stresses. Sturgeon Bay is like a wind tunnel and
the bridge was required to carry heavy vehicles, either force is a
great stress by itself. In addition, the span needs to offer a
clear 140 foot channel opening for ship passage. It was the
largest movable bridge in Wisconsin when it was built.

Both photos by David Yates, August 2008
Image © and Courtesy of Historic Bridges of the United States
and may not be reproduced without the permission.

See the Bridge Hunter website for more information about the Michigan Street Bridge and over 26,000 other historic bridges in the United States.

In my little neighborhood, development is finally slowing down, mostly because there’s not much open farm land left to develop. The subdivision next to me was the start of the ludicrous when they advertised the development with the catch phrase, “Leave the city behind, come to the country.” Of course, all the streets have gutters and sidewalks - so very rural.

The one that still drives me crazy was the development on either side of Division Road. There is a rise on Division Road, whether you are driving north or south on Division, you come to a hill that is high enough that you cannot see the top of it until you are almost to the top. You travel on a short plateau that is there, and then you go back down the hill.

The new developments enter from the top of the hill, on the short plateau, effectively creating a crossroads at the top. It’s a really dumb place for an intersection, but so it goes.

Division Road, long a divider between cornfields, had a speed limit of 40 MPH when the subdivisions were opened. Not long after the subdivisions opened, residents went to the village and complained that the speed limit on Division Road was too high. When attempting to pull out into traffic, the cars cresting the hill could not be seen until they were right on top of the poor driver trying to pull out.

In agreement, the village lowered the speed limit to 35 MPH, and although it took time to get used to it, I travel 35 MPH on Division Road. It’s better than having one the of subdivision residents for a hood ornament. Now, granted, I’m probably one of the more aggressive drivers you’ll encounter on freeways, but on local roads where there may be children around, I’m a speed limit kind of driver. It’s safer and in the long run, a lot cheaper in avoided fines and raised insurance rates.

As you might guess, I am often tailgated on Division Road by impatient drivers who wish to drive much, much faster. Invariably, they turn into, or out of, the very subdivision for whom the speed limit was reduced. Last week, I was traveling my usual 35 MPH on Division Road, the speed limit I would like to remind you, being tailgated by a moron in a green Toyota. The moron in the Toyota was being tailgated by a bigger moron in a Pontiac. At the far southern end of Division Road, it curves and widens with an extra southbound lane.

Where the road widens, the two morons almost hit one another trying to get around me. The moron in the Pontiac cut me off, slammed on the brakes like he wanted me to hit him, then he waved at me. He didn’t use all the fingers on his hand. I believe his horn also has a malfunction, because it seemed to be sounding for an unusually long time.

Of course, I also carry a pen and paper. I have his license number. So does the local police department. The police assure me that they’ve already had a conversation with him about his driving habits and are watching for him, as am I.

Of course, you know which subdivision the moron lives in, right?