U.S. Highway 18 Bridge construction should be done around the end of July
Work on the U.S. Highway 18 Bridge has included milling the top surface of the existing concrete, then identifying and removing the remaining deteriorating areas with jackhammers. The deteriorated concrete is caught on barges below the bridge, then workers form a false deck bottom and pour concrete to replace the removed sections. (Photo by Audrey Posten)
Work on bridges next to PdC tourism center to start this week
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
Construction on the U.S. Highway 18 Bridge connecting Marquette and Prairie du Chien is expected to be complete around the end of July.
According to Ralph Liegel with Jewell Associates Engineers, Inc., the project leader who is overseeing construction on behalf of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the contractor, Zenith Tech, Inc., “finished stage three on the westbound lane just after Memorial Day. They are presently working on stage four on the eastbound lane. They will have three overlay pours on the stage.”
“The deterioration of the concrete deck was quite a bit more than the plan indicated,” Liegel added. “Therefore, additional time was needed to do the repairs. Almost all of these deck repairs are done with jackhammers, therefore they are very labor intensive.”
The $6.2 million project, which includes deck and bridge wall repairs, new pavement and guardrail replacement, began in March 2020. Initial plans were to complete the work in one construction season, but the increased amount of deck deterioration found on the project caused delays, prompting Zenith Tech, Inc., and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) to suspend operations in early October.
The rehabilitation is intended to prolong the life of the bridge, which opened in 1975.
But even as this project nears its end, Liegel said another project on the bridges next to the Prairie du Chien Tourist Information Center will get underway this week.
“Similar work—concrete repairs and new concrete overlays—will be done on these,” he said. “The south bridge will be closed first with bi-directional traffic using the north bridge. After the south bridge is finished, tentatively near the mid/end of August, work will then start on the north bridge.”
According to Liegel, work will be done in halves on the bridge, with westbound traffic using half the structure and workers doing their work on the other half. Eastbound traffic will use the south bridge—the same as they do at present.
