Wisconsin Builder | Top Projects of 2002

Building Gateway

Sixth Street Viaduct to rejuvenate valley

Sixth Street Viaduct Milwaukee

By Candace Doyle

The $52 million Sixth Street Viaduct has a tall order: to build a gateway linking downtown Milwaukee to the Menomonee River Valley it spans.

"It sort of announces the fact that there's a new movement in the valley," said David Kahler, former head of Kahler Slater Architects, Milwaukee.

The redevelopment of the 1,200-acre valley is a high priority for city planners, and Kahler said the new viaduct, replacing the original built in 1980, was to be a catalyst for that growth.

"From that point of view, it was very exciting," Kahler said of the viaduct, which stretches 3,696 feet across the valley and is made up of four separate bridge spans — two cable-stayed and two bascule.

The cable-stayed spans reduce the number of support elements needed to handle unstable soil under the bridge and allow the deck thickness to be minimized to permit clearance for trains underneath. The bascule bridges were required for the spans over the waterways, allowing uninterrupted navigation for commercial and tall-masted boat traffic.

Scott Piefer, project manager and vice president at Zenith Tech, also said he was impressed with the community interest in the project.

"Everything seemed magnified," he said.

Personal achievement

Project Name: Sixth Street Viaduct
Location: Milwaukee
Submitting Companies: Kahler Slater Architects, Milwaukee, and HNTB Corp., Milwaukee
General Contractor/Construction Manager: Milwaukee Gateway Partners consisted of HNTB Corp., Milwaukee; Zenith Tech Inc., Waukesha; Lunda Construction Co., Black River Falls
Architect: Kahler Slater Architects, Milwaukee
Engineer: HNTB Corp., Milwaukee, and Earth Tech, Milwaukee
Owner: City of Milwaukee and Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Project Cost: $52 million
Start Date: August 2000
Completion Date: September 2002

Besides its significance to the city, Kahler said the viaduct has personal meaning to him.

"I can say it was thrilling to work on this project," he said. "It was one of those unusual opportunities in your professional life that you can put your best design practices to use."

Piefer agreed: "In the world we live in, the bridge-building world, things seem to be fairly routine. I view this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and was glad I was a part of it."

Yet Piefer and Kahler said the project had its share of challenges.

Piefer said the viaduct was the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's biggest project ever let and first design/build one, and he said working with both WisDOT and the city of Milwaukee required extra effort.

He said both entities had different viewpoints about design/build, and "it sometimes felt like I was referee."

"The actual design part and the actual construction part went just fine," he said. "Ninety-nine percent of the time things went really well."

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