The Way I See It!

The Bridge To Nowhere Does Go Somewhere And Needs Saving

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on Aug. 11, 2009

Cudahy, Development, Oak Creek, South Milwaukee, South Shore

The Hoan Bridge was used in the filming of the Blues Brothers and back then it was commonly known as the bridge to nowhere.  The 794 Parkway changed that and connected the far south side of Milwaukee and the surrounding communities.

Now that is all in jeopardy.  The Hoan Bridge is under siege.  See some people got the bright idea that we could just do away with the bridge and move everything to street level.  Now these are the brain trusts that think it will spur economic growth in that area and better utilize the land.  They could not be further from the truth!

First, it will add time to the ride.  I am sure they will drop the speed to 40 and match the 794 Parkway.  It would add a drawbridge (don’t forget maintaining the drawbridge and the person to operate it) that will backup traffic.  This is not efficiency, but inefficiency, and I think that is done by design.  I think those people want it not to work well to force the commuter rail ridership.  The roads are necessary, while commuter rail is not. 

Now with MMSD fertilizer plant (Milorganite from Jones Island treatment plant of biosolids) just near there and the smell that comes with it, I don’t think too many businesses will want to be on that land.  More importantly, I do think the DNR doesn’t allow anything to be built on the type of fill that was used around the bridge.

Don’t forget all of the development not going on the Parkeast!  Milwaukee is the only area I know that wants to teardown bridges and roads.

I don’t often find myself agreeing with County Supervisor Pat Jursik, but this time I do!  We need to save the Hoan Bridge!

At the end of this post I will include Mrs. Jursik’s post that you might have missed on CudahyNow.  I don’t agree with Mrs. Jursik’s thought of putting a toll road on I-94 to pay for the redecking of the Hoan Bridge.  I don’t think you can move those funds from I-94 to I-794 anyways, not to mention all of the federal dollars that we would lose with a toll road.  I do believe it must say with I-94 and cannot be used for the extensions. 

Putting a toll road on I-794 doesn’t make sense either.  What happen to the fighting to get the stimulus money for it?  Remember how important it was to President Bush when I part of it fell into the water and we got it fixed.  What happen to the people fighting for it?  Don’t forget you will lose some of those people fighting for it because it is not bike friendly. 

I am just waiting for someone to say it will saves lives not having the bridge to jump from and lower speeds.

It blows my mind that the rail crowd is willing to spend any amount of money for rail, but claims to save the Hoan bridge is too much!  Of course, it is for them.  This will serve their purpose.  More people use the Hoan Bridge then would use the KRM.

Oh politics...You make people crazy.

If Governor Doyle didn’t raid the transportation funds for other non-transportation projects, there would be plenty of money to fix our roads.

I do know that having the salt piles by the bridge and all the salt trucks picking up salt, does more than its share of damage to the Hoan Bridge.  I have said for years that maybe a special use fee needed to be applied to the trucks picking up salt there should have been in place.

The money spent on saving the Hoan Bridge is worth it all around! 

I am all in to rein in wasteful spending; this just isn’t one of them!

Maybe all the surrounding suburb cities need to pass some resolutions to save it.

The Hoan Bridge is the lifeline for the south side to commute into downtown and needs our help to save it!

You want to help things further, increase the speed on the 794 Parkway to 50 mph (I tried in April of 2002) and now that the Marquette construction has made the downtown on and off ramps safer, change the speed to 55 mph!  But in the end making cars traveling better, is NOT what the left and rail advocates want.  They want more congestion and slower speeds to help push their agendas.

Maintaining the Hoan Bridge Connection

Submitted By Patricia Jursik

Posted: Aug. 6, 2009

Dear Constituents:

My office has received communication indicating that Phase 2 for the planning of the demolition for the Hoan Bridge has now been put out as a Request for Proposals by the State Department of Transportation.

Last summer, we learned that the developer HNTB had done a schematic on land use without the Hoan Bridge.  I’d like to know which elected official is behind this policy directive to demolish the Hoan Bridge.  If there is no elected official providing this direction, where does the Secretary of the Department of Transportation obtain the authority to begin planning the demolition of a major artery in our community?

I have submitted an open records request to Department of Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi regarding HNTB study of Hoan Bridge.  I will be holding public hearings in the community so you can make your voice heard.  The Milwaukee County Board’s Transportation Committee plans to address this item at its September meeting. Our community should have input on this issue.  Our state representatives need to know what you think.

Pat Jursik

County Supervisor

Representing St. Francis, South Milwaukee, Cudahy, and 2 wards in Oak Creek

patricia.jursik@milwcnty.com

414-278-4231

http://www.cudahynow.com/userstoriessubmitted/52580037.html

Related info:

Stimulus Package For South Shore

By Patricia Jursik

8th District Supervisor

Posted: Jan. 9, 2009

Many of our south shore residents have contacted my office expressing concern that the county executive is not submitting needed projects for Milwaukee County in the economic stimulus package.  My office has worked to get the needed information for our south shore communities to submit our projects.  We have been able to obtain enough information including project descriptions and projected costs to submit a number of items.  Included will be the parks and parking lots through out the Oak Creek Parkway and all our Dist. 8 parks.  I have also obtained the information for replacing the deck of the Hoan Bridge and submitted this request.  Others include lake bank restoration for Grant, Warnimont and Sheridan Parks; the Mill Pond restoration project and repair of the pavilion at Mill Pond.  My office is working directly with the Governor's office in these submissions thus bi-passing the county executive.

Patricia Jursik

http://www.cudahynow.com/story/index.aspx?id=835677