A disaster of epic proportions has befallen the 33 year old Leo Figo Bridge that is a major corridor of traffic just North of the city of Green Bay, WI. The bridge, which opened in 1980 is a monster, one of the highest, longest and most expensive bridges ever built, until a large section 400' long settled over 2' on the Easter side of the 6 lane approach to the main span. This bridge passes over 40 thousand vehicles on a good day, mostly heavier trucks needing to bypass the already choked city infrastructure, this bridge has failed in a most spectacular fashion after recently being renovated with a new surface and fresh paint.
The renovation was $18 million, the bridge was inspected last year, 2012, and now we are coming up on almost two weeks of being barricaded on both ends to any traffic.
Two days after this settling occurred, Governor Scott Walker signed the order asking for Federal Disaster Assistance, and make no mistake, the failure of this one portion of the bridge is spectacular once viewed, the complete width of the bridge sags where the supporting column holding those two large roadbed sections in place were pulled down by the loss of support. The support that failed is in turn held up by a brace of steel pilings sunk down, which have corroded apparently enough to allow the failure. The corrosion seems to be very unusual and after testing the fill, it was discovered that industrial waste seems to be present, which accelerated the deterioration and that is just the initial findings of the WI-DOT and the Federal Disaster team sent to inspect the structure, more testing is needed, but it appears that the bridge will remain closed for an interminable time.
Of interest of course is how the Federal rules pertaining to this signed "order" from Walker unfold over the course of time, which is of a very high priority since that bridge has to be replaced and quickly with a modern design that will be incredibly expensive, the monument built to honor Leo Figo is now nothing more than a Mausoleum, worthless to those who depend on the bridge for their economy, and our economy is in the bogs now.
The State of Wisconsin cannot build that bridge unless the Federal Government spends some of that money they so do love to print, how about a few $$$$Billion for a new bridge?
So, I am amazed at the lack of any information on the bridge from the local, regional or State papers, therefore I asked the Journal/Sentinel of Milwaukee to update the few stories published regarding what the present status is. They responded well, the WI DOT is now updating daily, so at least that information is valid and timely. The local paper and station are rather conservative when it comes to telling their versions of governing, so it was no surprise that anything alluding to our very "Koch base" administration or representatives even discussing the fact that Scott Walker did sign that order to accept funds from the US(us in form of taxes, heh?). What kind of TeaBagger is in charge here, as soon as the ink was dry on that order, it was and has been very quiet from those in charge.
Oh, WTF, has to be because the U.S. Government is shutdown, what rotten timing for this incredibly important bridge to fail just when any hope of quick action by the Fed was thrown into the proverbial outhouse, Please tell me and anyone else listening how our State can not afford to embrace this order, how our squared away represenatives will fall all over themselves begging for that money to be printed, how quickly all those pukes telling us much we cannot spend, austerity you know. Never mind the sequester, the shutdown, the looming fiscal destruction if the debt ceiling is not raised, the lack of any will to even fund those disasters that have already occurred and are waiting for a response. Wisconsin is on very firm ground with the Federal Government, eh? Paul Ryan
will certainly stop whatever blathering he is doing and get with our program, Ron Johnson will fall all over his money bags trying to get to his red phone to one of the brothers, and of course Rinse Priapus will push his minions to ratchet up the love, surely they will support their Governor and get this taken care in an expeditious manner. I am sure!
One last little thought, our semi-precious football team is expecting a busy weekend here in Green Bay, and the fact that the downtown traffic will be snarled even more will not be lost on the national audience watching the game. If our State does not become more aware of what has happened to our economy due to the failure of the I-43 Bridge, they should after seeing just one picture of this hulking monolith of steel and concrete empty of anything will not settle in well. I would almost believe that one big major shutdown of our economy that is already in the bogs should not be impacted again by another shutdown. If the TeaBagger Cadre cannot speak up for our State, they need to find another job. Oh, best of luck when the rest of those e-mails are published by the Journal/Sentinel, the bridge issue will make the casket, those mails will nail it down.
Good job Journal/Sentinel, all those Green Sheet Ghosts are applauding your reporting.
Disco-Tech