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Steve NoffKe of the Tribune staffA matter of support — Large poles and timber braces add support to the crumbling underpinning of the Monegan Overhead.Poles prop Monegan overhead/Replacement plannedBy JIM DAVISOf the Tribune StaffTelephone poles support the east end of the Monegan Overhead on US. Highway 16 just northeast of Losey Boulevard.But Wisconsin highway officials say it will not collapse before a new bridge is built in 1979.The State Department of Transportation (DOT), concerned about the deteriorating condition of some girders supporting the bridge's roadbed, posted a 40-ton weight limitation for the bridge last spring.That keeps heavy tractor-trailer rigs off it, according to Robert Von Ruden. design supervisor with the department’s highway division office in La Crosse.He said the poles supporting the end of the bridge really aren’t telephone poles, though they look the same.Eighteen of the poles are shoring up that end of the bridge. They've been planted alongside three rows of concrete columns, on which thecement girders rest.Von Ruden said the girders, which are directly under the roadbed, are deteriorating where they meet the columns.“That’s not exactly dangerous,'' he said But, he added, as the girders continue to deteriorate, the roadbed will tend to sag“It will continue to get worse, but it won't collapse because there is good concrete above the concrete that is deteriorating,” added Von RudenLast Wednesday, the La Crosse Common Council’s Highways. Properties and Utilities Committee considered four plans submitted by the transportation department for replacing the bridgeBut, it delayed deciding which plan to recommend to the full Council until it meets with the City Plan Commission and DOT officials.State proposals call for building a new four-lane bridge on either the east or west side of the present bridge and improving the North Losey Boulevard-La Crosse Street intersection.by1979About eight North Losey Boulevard residents were at the committee meeting to protest one of the proposals, which would construct the bridge to the west of the present bridge.Eastbound motorists on La Crosse Street would be rerouted through Roellig Park below ground level and a five-foot concrete barricade would be erected in front of homes.Residents had expressed fear of lowered property values and of excessive noise and traffic.A spokesman for the residents said the group preferred another proposal, Plan B. which also would put the new bridge west of the existing one, but would not bring motorists as close to their homes.That plan would take the Down Under Club tavern property and a storage building for right-of-way and one home on the southeast corner of Edgewood Place would have to be removedVon Ruden said it will take the state a year to finalize plans for the new bridge and another toconstruct it.
Newspaper Details
La Crosse Sunday Tribune
La Crosse, Wisconsin, US
Sun, Aug 07, 1977
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
La C.
WI, USA 15 Jan 2020
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