New Bridge Has 'Come Full Circle'

If you're going to today and happen to walk, bike or drive over the new 70th Street bridge, you should pause for a moment to appreciate the span of history it represents.

The new bridge looks almost exactly like the old one, and that's no accident. It was built as a near replica of the Depression-era, WPA-built structure it replaced – for more than one reason.

"I appreciate the aesthetics," said Ald. Dennis McBride, in whose 4th District the bridge stands. "They did a good job of preserving the look of it."

They had to, said McBride, who is also a member of the Historic Preservation Commission. Because state and federal funds were used in the reconstruction of a historic structure, it had to meet guidelines for the design and materials used in its rebuilding.

"It had to be as nearly representative of the old bridge as possible," McBride said.

But the bridge is also an integral part of the flood management function of the expanded Hart Park, where more than 60 homes were bought out and demolished by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District in the wake of back-to-back floods in 1997 and 1998. So it had to be rebuilt to serve the same function.

"It had to be tweaked a little to accommodate a bike path underneath it," said city engineer Bill Wehrley, "but there had to be a lot of attention to making it the same hydraulically. It has to act the same way in holding back flood waters."

The original 70th Street bridge was part and parcel of the flood management structure of levees that now surrounds Hart Park, Wehrley said, so it has to serve the same function now.

The old bridge was built in 1935, Wehrley said. It was part of the Depression back-to-work effort that also built Lannon stone floodwalls and park pavilions not only in Wauwatosa but all over Milwaukee County.

The new bridge cost $1.95 million dollars, Wehrley said, but Wauwatosa taxpayers are on the hook for only a fraction of that – not counting what they pay in federal and state taxes.

Of the total, $972,000 came in the form of federal stimulus funds, $745,000 came from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which is a combination of state and federal tax-generated funds, and $233,000 came directly from Wauwatosa.

The new bridge also had to be built to carry the weight of a loaded semi-truck or fire truck, Wehrley said, because "even though it's a side street, it has to bear those loads." That's because 70th Street serves as an auxiliary outlet in case, for some reason, the nearby 68th Street bridge is closed or blocked.

"I think it's kind of interesting," Wehrley said, "that the WPA (Works Progress Administration) that built the old bridge was a jobs stimulous program when so many people were out of work during the Depression – and the new bridge was built with stimulus funds to create jobs during this recession.

"I guess you could say it's come full circle."