DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) – Brown County and local municipalities are making financial commitments to move ahead with a series of steps on the Southern Bridge Corridor project.
The project was first floated in 1967. But now, plans for an interchange and connecting road improvements are pushing the Southern Bridge towards reality. The county is splitting the $1.2 million with the Town of Lawrence and City of De Pere.
“This is real money that is tying up to an investment for something that’s been in the works. Economic development, congestion, public safety, all the right reasons – and it’s finally coming to fruition…We’re at finally a point where we’re actually putting in money for engineering and design. That’s pretty significant in my book.” Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said. “Right now, all the engineering and design is roughly $1.2 million. Brown County is responsible for 50-percent of that, so right around $600,000 that Brown County will be committing to this…The town of Lawrence is responsible for $300,000, the city of De Pere, $300,000 – and that is what our boards will be deciding in for the 2021 budget.”
While those projections are budgetary and await board approvals, Streckenbach is optimistic that it shows the state that the communities are committed to the project. The major goal is to assist economic development by creating infrastructure and environments that allow businesses to be successful and conveniently travel through the area.
“Whether it’s the first mile of a truckload of products that’s originating here and heading and I-41 in Green Bay, or the great arteries of our interstate highway system which that truck is going through pass to reach its destination, our transportation system doesn’t work best for anyone unless it’s working for everyone,” said Department of Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson.
This project will significantly reduce shipping costs by providing a direct link to major highways, minimize congestion-related safety problems, and allow the state and its local partners to avoid the high cost of expanding the Claude Allouez (State Highway 32) Bridge, as well as State Highway 57 south of downtown De Pere, by providing another Fox River crossing option in this rapidly developing area.
The state and Department of Transportation have also committed to funding the actual interchange between County Highway GV and Lawrence Drive, which could cost anywhere between $35-$40 million. That’s a significant cost that no longer is going to be directly tied to the local municipalities and the county to fund.
“Typically your engineering and design are somewhere in a year of work. Then you have the right of way and then utility work, which is another 2 years. Then the construction could potentially start,” Streckenbach told WTAQ News. “In the best-case scenario, we’re looking at four years just to do the connectors to the interchange, not necessarily any of the other sections in the other phases. So maybe in four years we potentially see something – maybe five years? As far as actual construction and completion.”
Meanwhile, the county and municipalities are waiting on the Record of Decision on their drafted environmental document to ensure that the southern bridge can actually be built in their preferred location.
“After we finished our draft environmental document, we could identify a preferred location. That’s where we are right now, as that was done in June or so, and we were looking for additional public input from that point forward,” said Brown County Planning Director Cole Runge. “When that record of decision is signed by the Federal Highway Administration, then we can identify a selected location. So we can go from ‘this is where we think it should go’ to ‘this is where it’s going to go’.”
“We need to make sure that the record of decision that happens in October identifies this as the preferred site. But we feel pretty confident that it is, and that’s the reason why we’re putting the money in,” Streckenbach said.
That preferred location would connect Rockland Road on the east side of the Fox River and Red Maple Road on the west side.
If approved, the Southern Bridge Corridor Project will involve constructing a new Fox River bridge in the City of De Pere and a divided four-lane arterial street corridor between the intersection of County Highways GV and X in the Town of Ledgeview, and between the intersection of County Highways EB and F in the Town of Lawrence.
“The interchange will be built first. And the interchange, actually, now that we’re going have roads connecting up to Packerland on the west and to Lawrence Drive on the east, it can actually be a standalone project and be a very valuable project until it’s time for the bridge to be built,” Runge told WTAQ News.
There was no specific date on when plans for the bridge might move towards an engineering or construction phase, as they await approval of that environmental document.
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