Fox Point Board Gains Ground on Bridge

Residents again urged the Fox Point Village Board on Tuesday night to make a decision on the historic Bridge Ravine footbridge, which has been closed since October.

A small group of residents was so frustrated with the board's lack of forward progress they offered to cover the cost of a second opinion for nearly $10,000. The board approved scheduling a special meeting to expedite the bridge decision, where engineer Conor Nelan can explain his proposal, credentials and answer questions.

"Get moving, guys," resident Barbara Schwartz said. "It seems to me you're approaching your second anniversary on this. It's time to start moving."

The board had commissioned a report from Graef, a structural engineering firm, which completed a review of the bridge in 2009. The firm performed additional inspections in January and February of this year and has updated its report. 

Graef concluded that since 2009, holes in trusses have gotten noticably larger, a bottom chord is complete eroded, and packed rust is building up, prying apart the bridge's rivets. Because of these and numerous other issues, Graef suggests that the bridge remain closed until it is repaired or replaced.

"It's not going to get better, it's just going to get worse," departing Village Trustee Don Zien said. "Why not come up with a solution? It seems stupid; when it's getting rustier and thinner, it's not going to get any better."

But board President Michael West said that while it is his personal opinion that the bridge be replaced, there are seven members on the board who all deserve a say, and that research and information is needed for the members to cast their votes.

"I think I've been pretty dang trasparent in my assessment that the bridge needs to be replaced, based on the reports that I saw, but again, that's just little old me," West said.

But the two-year process that has continued in researching and understanding options for the bridge has left four residents, two living on each side of it, frustrated enough to seek their own second opinion. Mary and James Connelly and Cissy and Jack Bryson all have property that would be directly affected by any change with the bridge.

"Instead of sitting in our houses, wringing our hands thinking, 'What's going to happen to these trees?', we started to knock our heads together to figure out what we could do," said Mary Connelly.

The Connellys and Bryces found Nelan, from Fort Akinson. Nelan states in a letter to the Connellys that he can provide a full assessment and report on the bridge for only $9,280.

Cissy Bryson said that if the ravine were accessed from their side of the bridge, where they have large areas of grass and fewer trees than the Connellys' side, the bridge could be repaired without damaging so many trees that would not grow back in a single lifetime.

"He said that it would be completely repaired, restored, rehabbed and be like a new bridge. I think it's the answer, I'm really excited about it," Cissy Bryson said. "Conor believes that the bridge can be restored from below. Scaffolding would be used and the trees protected."

"We felt that we needed another opinion," James Connelly said. "And I just feel that if the board does not accept this person, or someone equal to, the Bryces and the Connellys will pay for this if the board doesn't accept it because we feel this has to be done. We cannot just accept this one person's opinion."