“ We always knew it was a historical bridge . We did know that there would be some mitigation required for a historic bridge . Nothing lasts forever , no matter how much we want it to ,” Rooney said .
To restore their bridge , Rooney ’ s first step was connecting with the right team for the job .
“ We solicited this project like normal , and we received a lot of proposals ,” Rooney explained . “ We hadn ’ t done a lot of projects with Ayres outside of normal bridge inspections . We found that Ayres was one of the leaders in bridges . First , we needed to find a bridge engineer , and hopefully they could form an expert team , and I think the team was good .”
Close a Bridge , Remove a Building
“ The nice thing about having the Root River is it is beautiful to look at , but the bad thing about it is the difficulty when you close a bridge over the river to traffic ,” Rooney explained . “ It was quite a lengthy detour for residents , and transients , both by vehicle and foot , who were used to crossing it quickly . For example , busing for school had to completely change when the bridge was closed to traffic , which was very inconvenient for residents in the area and schoolchildren that experienced longer bus trips .”
It wasn ’ t just the shutting down of traffic , but also accommodating future traffic and ensuring that the solution fit the City ’ s needs . What would start off as
When a route is closed to traffic and residents drive farther , they use up more resources . Factors like gas consumption , time , and wear and tear on vehicles help guide Wisconsin ’ s Department of Transportation ( WisDOT ) when providing funding for projects .
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