What’s up with the Wisconsin Street Bridge
Since last week the Wisconsin Street Bridge has been restricted to one lane of traffic on each side – the other two lanes closed for some kind of road work. Part of the newly poured road appears to have been torn up for whatever work is being done and it looks like more may be torn up in the future, as the lanes that are still open appear to have grooves made in them – much like we often see when a road is going to be worked on.
So now I have a few questions: (1) What exactly is being done (2) Why could this not have been done before the bridge work was completed and the bridge re-opening held, and (3) was our public works director Dave Patek notified by the DOT about this and, if so, why could he not have notified the city manager, common council members and/or the press about it? I spoke with Councilor Tony Palmeri about it earlier this afternoon and he was uncertain as to exactly what was going on. City manager Mark Rohloff had a similar response but said he had seen a brief press release about it, though it wasn’t too specific about anything.
The DOT’s web site does contain said press release, but here again, why did the public not know about this and why could this work not have been done before the bridge was reopened last November? Curiously enough, I see the Oshkosh Northwestern has an article online today about bridge inspections being conducted this week that are going to cause brief lane closures to three of the four bridges in Oshkosh (all but the Wisconsin Street bridge; of course it’s already got lane closures due to other reasons). Too bad we didn’t have the same kind of heads-up about this nine or 10-day closure, especially on a bridge that was under reconstruction for approximately two years and hasn’t even been reopened six months yet. Is such basic communication really that complicated, especially when taxpayers’ money is involved and they and other drivers are going to be inconvenienced? Clearly someone, somewhere along the way has dropped the ball on this one.
posted by Cheryl Hentz at 5:07 PM
7 Comments:
Cheryl,
Here's a response from Tom Bucholtz of the DOT:
Contractor that supplied concrete failed to put air entrainment in the concrete in small portion of the deck on south span. See attached picture. Contractor is fixing this area by removing a portion of the concrete and replacing with new concrete. WisDOT is planning to have contractor cover this small area of the deck with an epoxy sealer to prevent salts/moisture from penetrating further into the concrete of this area.
Contractor is also finishing up punch list items that could not be completed last fall due to temperature. Touch up painting of the steel girders, touch painting of concrete of bridge, tender house touch up, etc.
Contractor will have all work completed by May 15th. All work that affect the movable spans of the bridge will be completed before navigation season which begins end of next week.
Lane restrictions on Wisconsin Street bridge will be completed at the end of this week.
Any further questions, feel free to call or e-mail.
Tom
Tom Buchholz, P.E.
Phone 920-492-0142
Fax 920-492-7707
E-Mail: tom.buchholz@dot.wi.gov
Because construction fell so far behind, there's still work to be completed from last year's project, not only on the bridge, but all along Ohio Street.
Some may be code and other things that just need to be completed to contract.
(I called the city engineering dept. for the info)
[Councilman Tony Palmeri contacted director of public works Dave Patek to inquire about this bridge situation and I am pleased to post the e-mailed questions and answers here. They are in reverse chronological order, so read from most recent to oldest. Thanks to Tony and the city staff for getting a quick response. I only wish information such as this would have been forthcoming in a more timely manner at the outset of the work (or even just before it started) so citizens or council members wouldn't have to seek out answers after the fact.]
-----Original Message-----
From: Buchholz, Tom - DOT [mailto:Tom.Buchholz@dot.wi.gov]
Sent: Thu 4/16/2009 2:07 AM
To: Patek, David
Cc: Bain, Bryan; Esslinger, Paul J.; King, Jessica; McHugh, Dennis E.; Palmeri, Tony; Tower, Burk; Tower, Frank; Rohloff, Mark; Gohde, Steven M.; Michaelson, Jill - DOT; Rudat, Kim - DOT
Subject: RE: Question about current repairs at the Wisconsin St. Bridge
Quick update... lane restrictions on Wisconsin Street will come down Monday not Friday as I stated yesterday. Contractor is planning to pour other half of repairs tomorrow.
Tom
-----Original Message-----
From: Buchholz, Tom - DOT
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 1:01 PM
To: 'Patek, David'
Cc: Bain, Bryan; Esslinger, Paul J.; King, Jessica; McHugh, Dennis E.; Palmeri, Tony; Tower, Burk; Tower, Frank; Rohloff, Mark; Gohde, Steven M.; Michaelson, Jill - DOT; Rudat, Kim - DOT
Subject: RE: Question about current repairs at the Wisconsin St. Bridge
Contractor that supplied concrete failed to put air entrainment in the concrete in small portion of the deck on south span. See attached picture. Contractor is fixing this area by removing a portion of the concrete and replacing with new concrete. WisDOT is planning to have contractor cover this small area of the deck with an epoxy sealer to prevent salts/moisture from penetrating further into the concrete of this area.
Contractor is also finishing up punch list items that could not be completed last fall due to temperature. Touch up painting of the steel girders, touch painting of concrete of bridge, tender house touch up, etc.
Contractor will have all work completed by May 15th. All work that affect the movable spans of the bridge will be completed before navigation season which begins end of next week.
Lane restrictions on Wisconsin Street bridge will be completed at the end of this week.
Any further questions, feel free to call or e-mail.
Tom
Tom Buchholz, P.E.
Phone 920-492-0142
Fax 920-492-7707
E-Mail: tom.buchholz@dot.wi.gov
-----Original Message-----
From: Patek, David [mailto:DPatek@ci.oshkosh.wi.us]
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 10:06 AM
To: Buchholz, Tom - DOT
Cc: Bain, Bryan; Esslinger, Paul J.; King, Jessica; McHugh, Dennis E.; Palmeri, Tony; Tower, Burk; Tower, Frank; Rohloff, Mark; Gohde, Steven M.
Subject: Question about current repairs at the Wisconsin St. Bridge
Hi Tom- I assume that your contractor is doing repair work on the concrete pavement that failed during the winter per the guarantee requirements of your contract. The Common Council members are getting questions from the public. Please respond to all with any additional info. Thanks. dcp
-----Original Message-----
From: Palmeri, Tony
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 7:35 AM
To: Patek, David
Subject: Wisconsin St. Bridge
Good Morning David,
People are emailing/calling to ask what is going on with the Wisconsin St. Bridge. Is there a simple explanation? Thanks in advance! --Tony
Tony Palmeri
http://talktotony.blogspot.com/
www.tonypalmeri.com
tpalmeri@ci.oshkosh.wi.us
920-235-1116
We also received the same information from Mayor Frank Tower as we did from councilman Palmeri. Thanks, Mayor! I appreciate your taking the time to shoot the info over to me.
It looks like the new concrete at Murdock and Harrison will be cut up as there is a lot of orange paint down the center of Murdock. Arrgh.
You think the pipes would be installed before the concrete is poured.
Bernie Olejniczak
Imagine my "surprise" as I returned to Oshkosh after being out of state for several days only to find this afternoon that the lane restrictions on the bridge were still in place. Let's see, first they were coming down last Friday; that then changed to this past Monday; today is Thursday and as of about 3:30 p.m they were still there. When I came back across the bridge around 4 pm, the lane restriction on the northbound side was down, but one of the southbound lanes still was restricted. I wonder what the DOT will say the delays were this time?
I have also wondered why all the traffic lights that were removed were replaced with the standard non-led type of lights. Shouldn't the state (or the state's contractor) have replaced these with the same lights that were removed?
Post a Comment
<< Home