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All controversy aside
De Pere well served by Claude Allouez Bridge
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Twelve sleek, white piers pierce the Fox River in De Pere.
Their simple lines slice through the water like the bow of a glassy ship.
Resting on the piers, the four-lane reconstructed Claude Allouez Bridge, complete with pedestrian and biking paths, connects the east and west ends of the city and unites neighborhoods separated by geography and varied histories.
But the majesty of architect David Kahler’s 1,700-foot-long modern bridge almost never came into realization. Local residents were hesitant to use avant-garde architecture to replace the bridge, which has roots traceable to 1671 when Claude Allouez and his Jesuit group founded a mission along the Fox River.
“There was a lot of controversy over it,” said Michael Lefebvre, project manager with engineering firm Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates Inc. “People said, ‘We don’t want a modern-looking bridge.’ But David [Kahler] was smart enough to know that a modern bridge actually enhanced the historic aspect of the community.”
Built in 1932, the former two-lane Claude Allouez Bridge, located just north of the new bridge, was too small to accommodate today’s traffic, and its deck, structural steel girders and piers were deteriorating. The bridge’s expansion joints also needed replacing.
Still, convincing the public to support the more than $22 million project was a lengthy process. At one point, the project was almost interrupted by a direct legislation petition against it.
Lefebvre said some felt the community should wait for a proposed second bridge, to be built south of De Pere, to be completed before deciding how best to proceed in De Pere.
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Project Essentials Project
name: Claude Allouez Bridge Reconstruction
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“There were a lot of people who were opposed to this bridge,” he said, “and a lot of people in support of it, and, basically, they fought it out.”
Lefebvre said the new bridge could handle up to 32,000 cars a day 20 years from now. If the second bridge, planned to be built in 2020, never gets completed, the reconstructed bridge could carry up to 40,000 cars a day, he said.
Construction on the bridge began in July 2006. The first vehicles began crossing the new bridge Oct. 6. Demolition of the old bridge is set to conclude this summer.
Moving the bridge to the south of the first Claude Allouez Bridge brought its own challenges to the project, including the need to purchase land and route traffic through the downtown.
Lefebvre said the solution was to build northeast Wisconsin’s first two-lane roundabout instead of a signalized intersection. The move let the project proceed with less land acquisition and without disturbing historical features or parking, he said.
“With all the controversy that took place, we were able to help the state and community get through it,” Lefebvre said, “and make what we believe were the right choices.”
— Jennifer Pfaff