Milwaukee County to consider limiting Hoan Bridge options (11:18 a.m. 9/3/09)

Sean Ryan

sean.ryan@dailyreporter.com

Milwaukee County Supervisor Patricia Jursik released a resolution (PDF) Thursday that would order the state to study renovating the Hoan Bridge before considering replacement.

Jursik opposes tearing down the bridge in Milwaukee and replacing it with an at-grade, four-lane boulevard.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation in June 2008 hired HNTB Corp. to study reconstruction options for the aging Hoan Bridge, according to documents Jursik received after filing an open records request to WisDOT.

In December 2008, WisDOT expanded the contract to include a study of the economic potential (PDF) of removing the Hoan Bridge.

Jursik’s County Board resolution requests WisDOT complete engineering studies for the option to build new bridge decks on the Hoan and maintain its structural elements before considering other options. It also requests the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission review HNTB’s studies of how different reconstruction options would affect traffic flow.

The Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Transportation, Public Works and Transit will consider the resolution on Sept. 9