GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay has four bridges alone that help get vehicle traffic over the Fox River.
The Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge is the tallest, with a clearance of about 120 feet above the water.
Green Bay has four bridges alone that help get vehicle traffic over the Fox River. The Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge is the tallest, with a clearance of about 120 feet above the water.
The bridge is a main artery for the area, with many like Greg Schlies traveling on the structure every day.
“I drove on it in the snow, in the rain and the fog and stuff and I think it’s a really good bridge,” said Schlies.
Construction of the Leo Frigo was completed in 1981, only a few years after the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
In light of the deadly collapse of that bridge, caused by a massive cargo ship hitting a pylon holding up the bridge — could a similar incident happen here?
“there’d certainly be some damage and again, depending on the size and what it hit, but I don’t think you’d see quite the kind of catastrophic failure that you did in Baltimore,” said Josh Dietsche, WisDOT Chief Structures Engineer.
Dietsche says there are safety measures in place to make sure vessels don’t collide with the Leo Frigo in the first place.
One feature includes 16-foot thick concrete tubes called ‘Dolphins.’
These are located near each pier or pylon, which support the bridge over the Fox River channel.
“to try and either stop or kind of deflect a ship that might be coming in,” said Dietsche.
Aside from the dolphins on both sides of the piers, the DOT adds there’s more natural protections beneath the water’s surface that would help deter ships from striking the bridge.
“As you get closer to those piers, where yeah we’d be worried about impacts, the depth of the channel gets a lot shallower so, you’re going to have a harder time with a collision there just because a ship that big is potentially going to ground or at least slow down because it starts rubbing against the ground before it starts getting close to those piers,” said Dietsche.
The DOT adds, the ships that travel on Green Bay and the Fox River do not carry as much weight as ships like the Dali, which struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
According to the D-O-T, all bridges in Wisconsin are inspected at least once every two years.
Area drivers FOX 11 spoke with on Sunday say they’re confident in the safety of the Leo Frigo.
“There’s a possibility it can happen but I mean as long as people do their things and prep their ships and stuff like that you don’t have to worry about that,” said Jake Fezatte of Howard.
The Leo Frigo and Francis Scott Key bridges are also different in design.
The Francis Scott Key was a type of truss bridge, while the Leo Frigo is an arch bridge.
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