Appleton Post Crescent, USA – Jun 8, 2014
Neenah’s Oak Street project extended for two months
By Duke Behnke
Post-Crescent staff writer
NEENAH — The arrival of hundreds of nesting cliff and barn swallows has pushed back the projected completion of the Oak Street bridge more than two months to mid-October.
The delay has ruffled the feathers of city officials and motorists but is not expected to change the route of the Fox Cities Marathon on Sept. 24.
The swallows have built mud nests on the temporary support structure on the underside of the new $5.6 million bridge, and because the swallows are federally protected migratory birds, the nests cannot be disturbed.
“The falsework will stay there until the swallow nesting period is completed,” said Bill Bertrand, project manager for the state Department of Transportation’s regional office in Green Bay.
The nesting period for the swallows runs from May 15 to Aug. 20.
The delay, first reported Wednesday morning at www.postcrescent.com, will mean a longer disruption for downtown motorists, who encounter heavy congestion during
the morning and afternoon rush hours.
Since the Oak Street bridge closed for reconstruction in August, all traffic over the Fox River has been detoured over the N. Commercial Street bridge.
“It hasn’t been horrible, but I am looking forward to the bridge opening,” Doty Island resident Pat Galloway said.
Tim Hamblin, Neenah’s public works director, said that for the marathon, the east half of N. Commercial would be cordoned off for runners, and the west half would handle one lane of southbound traffic and one lane of northbound traffic.
Bertrand said the bridge contractor, Lunda Construction Co. of Black River Falls, can continue to work above the bridge deck, but he said it will have another two months of work after the falsework is removed.
Just last month Neenah officials were forecasting a bridge opening at the end of July, several months ahead of schedule.
“Everything had been so favorable that we thought we would have an early opening, and then this comes along,” Mayor George Scherck said. “It’s very disappointing.”
The delay caused by the swallows is just the latest roadblock the city has encountered.
Last month federal highway officials refused to let Neenah bypass regulations tied to federal grant money for the construction of an overpass on W. Cecil Street, thereby delaying that project until 2014.
“Even the birds are against us here,” Scherck said. “If it wasn’t so sad, you would probably laugh.”
Cliff and barns swallows like to nest on manmade structures like bridges. They had nested on the Oak Street bridge in the past, but the corners of the falsework made the bridge particularly attractive this year.
“There are hundreds of them,” Hamblin said of the swallows. “They are under the whole bridge. I would bet there is a nest every five feet.”
Duke Behnke can be reached at 920-729-6622, ext. 32, or by e-mail at dbehnke@postcrescent.com.
