DE PERE – Members of the De Pere Common Council got an update on the South Bridge Connector project this week.
The South Bridge Connector is a second bridge and ancillary roads to be built in De Pere and designed to get traffic from I-41 south of De Pere over the Fox River to the west and east sides faster than traveling back roads or the main routes from I-41.
Mayor James Boyd called it “the longest project in the history of mankind,” with roots stretching back to the 1960s. Its finishing date is 2030.
Scott Thoresen, director of public works for the city, shared some highlights from a Brown County update on the project held earlier this month at Susie Altmayer Elementary School:
• Generations Boulevard is proposed to go under the railroad and the existing railroad bridge replaced.
• Roundabout intersections are proposed at American Boulevard, Lost Dauphin Road, Highway 32/57, Commerce Drive, and County PP.
• Limited access intersections (right in/right out only) are proposed at Red Tail Glen, Old Plank Road, Destiny Drive/Homestead Drive, and Enterprise Drive/Ryan Road.
• A pedestrian trail is proposed for under the bridge at the east abutment, to eliminate the need for an at grade pedestrian crossing at Old Plank Road.
• A segment of the Fox River Trail could be reconfigured as an overpass or underpass, and the existing at-grade crossing eliminated.
The project is divided into sections, with De Pere responsible for five within its city limits and Lawrence responsible for one.
The DOT is handling the main interchange at I-41. Right now, EB-39, the I-41 interchange and GV-14 are underway and are expected to be finished by fall of 2026.
Other sections are in the design phase, with a completion date of fall of 2030.
“The total project, including the interchange, Town of Lawrence and our segments is approximately $183 million,” Thoresen said.
De Pere is responsible for $28 million.
The route is being built in stages.
Alderperson Jonathon Hansen said he’d heard about the limited access (right in/right out) on Old Plank Road but not Destiny Drive, Homestead Drive, Enterprise Drive, and Ryan Road.
He asked about residents of the Ryan Road subdivision.
“Those vehicles, if they’re going westbound, most of them go north on Ryan Road, so they get to Rockland Road and then they take a left,” he said. “You’re saying now they’d have to take a right, go down to PP and then kind of just go around a circle?”
Thoresen said that was correct and that the county did a traffic study and evaluated the area for a roundabout at Enterprise Drive and Ryan Road but felt it would make too much of an impact on the properties there.
Hanson said some of his constituents were concerned about noise.
Thoresen said the county found that projected sound levels at around 20 properties would be high enough to be impacted but not enough to warrant formal noise mitigation efforts.
Furthermore, he said, sound mitigation costs were capped at $50,000 per property, and building berms or sound barriers would cost just over $60,000 per property.
In other business, the board:
• Voted unanimously to award a contract of $747,520.60 to Northeast Asphalt, Inc., for curb repair and street resurfacing.
• Voted unanimously to award a contract of $23,500.00 to Slack Painting, LLC, for cleaning and coating repair of the Ninth Street water tower.
• Authorized a resolution to amend a contract with Short Elliot Hendrickson (SEH) for engineering and design services and consulting in the amount of $102,650 for services related to the expansion of the municipal service center.
• Voted unanimously to award a contract of $101,555.60 to Elevate 97 to replace the Interstate Highway 41 city sign.
• Revised Section 14-73(13)(a) of the municipal code on uses for retail sales to prohibit exclusive smoke and vape shops where smoking, vaping and related accessories are the primary sales. Those already in existence are considered grandfathered in.
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