Skip to content
0 Items in your cart View Cart
0 Cart Join Login Contact Us
American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin Logo
  • What We Do
    • About ACEC WI
    • About Our Members
  • Advocacy
    • Issues
    • Get Involved
  • Awards
    • 2022 Awards Gallery
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
    • Chair's Award
    • Young Professionals Award
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Leadership Institute Class of 2023
    • About ACEC WI Events
  • Membership
    • The Value of Belonging
    • Join
    • Sponsor
  • Resources
    • News
    • Blog
    • Diversity & Inclusion Resources
    • Kids STEM Activities
    • Member Resources
    • Member Directory

  • Join
  • Login
  • Contact Us

Reconstructed Bridge Makes Grand Entrance into Popular, Picturesque Park

July 9, 2019
Posted By: Daniel Sydow in Blog ,

Written by Dan Sydow, PE, Ayres Associates

How times change. How projects evolve. And how transforming the end result of those changes can be. Never was this more evident than with the City of Eau Claire’s Grand Avenue Half Moon Lake Bridge Replacement project – an upgrade like no other.

Located at a prominent entrance to Carson Park, one of Eau Claire’s signature attractions, the original bridge had deteriorated to the point of becoming both structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. Its bridge sufficiency rating – a calculation the Wisconsin Department of Transportation uses to help prioritize bridge improvements – was a mere 40.8 out of 100. Functionally, the narrow bridge presented a substantial safety concern for the City and the scores of visitors and recreationalists relying on the crossing to enter the popular park.

While replacing a basic bridge may sound like a straightforward engineering pursuit, the Half Moon Lake project was anything but routine. From the beginning, City leaders had lofty goals for their project when they learned that the failing bridge was selected to receive funding assistance through the WisDOT’s local bridge program. They not only wanted to replace the modest structure with a safe and structurally sound replacement bridge but also incorporate improvements and aesthetic enhancements that would serve the community well for generations to come.

And that they did.

The “extras” incorporated into the design, including off-trail, environmentally sensitive fishing accommodations, improved lighting, increased navigational clearance and wider and terrace-separated recreational trails, complement the new structure and position the area as a destination and extension of the 134-acre park. Ayres Associates’ designers worked with the City to more than triple the footprint of the causeway. As a result, bicyclists have designated lanes to ride in, anglers have Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant accommodations to fish from, pedestrians no longer have to walk alongside live traffic and motorists have a structurally sound passageway into the park.

How it happened: the engineering behind the vision

From a technical standpoint, the project involved replacing a narrow concrete arch bridge built in 1933 with an aesthetically enhanced, 50-foot-long-by-77-foot-wide concrete slab bridge and 600 feet of approaches. Taking the project to the next level, the team made a concerted effort to consider all users and stakeholders in the design plans. Special considerations included extensive and varied types of fishing accommodations, including fishing areas for those with disabilities and creation of a fish habitat with trees placed in the water along the project; user-friendly and context-appropriate landscaping; environmental impacts coordination with regulatory agencies; removal and proper treatment of contaminated lakebed material and minimizing disruption during construction. Landscaping features along the causeway provide recreational opportunities while also blending into the look of the area. Flag stone pavers, limestone seat walls, stamped concrete and light poles serve important functional purposes while further adding to the project’s aesthetics.

Public involvement during the design was critical, and the project team worked extensively on public outreach efforts, developing a tri-lingual project website and flyer to share information with concerned and affected residents living near the project site and creating detailed renderings and “fly-through” animations to help stakeholders visualize the future finished product.

A happy ending: both safety and recreational needs addressed

While the initial focus of the project was to address a bad bridge, the resulting collaboration delivered much more than just a means to access a park. It demonstrates that transportation facilities can be much more with careful planning, quality communication, and open collaboration.

This innovative, cost-effective project has made a dramatic improvement for the community, addressing public safety and offering attributes for the public beyond basic transport over a body of water. The City made a wise choice when it opted to invest in this out-of-the-ordinary bridge replacement project.

About the Author

Dan Sydow, PE, is a structural engineer at Ayres Associates and served as project manager for the Half Moon Lake project. Ayres Associates, a longtime member of ACEC Wisconsin, is a 300-person engineering and architectural firm based in Eau Claire; it has four additional offices in Wisconsin, as well as offices in Florida, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Return to blog home

Wood Receives Young Professional of the Year AwardJuly 18, 2019 Member News 7/1July 1, 2019
Categories
ACEC National News ACEC WI News Advocacy Awards Blog COVID 19 Updates Diversity & Inclusion Industry News Member News Whitepapers
Most Recent Posts
Member News 5.27.22 May 27, 2022 by Andrew Heidtke May 2022 Conduit/WisPAC Update May 26, 2022 by Andrew Heidtke 2022-23 Board of Directors Election Results May 25, 2022 by Kelly Veit Join Us for the 2022 Annual Business Meeting May 25, 2022 by Andrew Heidtke Inclusive on Purpose: Positively Impact Workplace Culture and Climate May 23, 2022 by Sue Leith

Contact

316 W. Washington Ave Suite 950
Madison, Wisconsin 53703

608.257.9223

Site map

Home

About ACEC WI

Advocacy

Events

Membership

Resources

Our Members

The American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin (ACEC WI) represents Wisconsin’s engineering businesses. Our mission is to create a healthy environment for engineering firms to advance the prosperity and welfare of Wisconsin. ACEC WI members design roads, bridges, dams, water and wastewater facilities, buildings, recreational facilities and more.

Novi AMS
Association Management Software

Copyright © 2022 - American Council of Engineering Companies of Wisconsin. Legal

×

Membership & Account Access

Is Your Company a Member?

If you previously had a login to the ACEC WI site, please click here to set a password for the new website.

If you are new to ACEC WI, we invite you to create an online account below in order to:

  • Access the Member Directory
  • Register for Events
  • Receive Local & National Updates
  • View & Pay Invoices
Create an Account

Applying for Membership?

The members of ACEC WI invite and encourage you to join!

By working together, we can achieve our mission to create a healthy environment for engineering firms to advance the prosperity and welfare of Wisconsin and enhance our industry as a whole. 

Memberships are firm-based and individuals cannot join ACEC WI. If you are an individual needing to login under your member firm, please refer to the information on the left.

For consulting engineering firms, please click here. For affiliates, please click "View Membership Types" below.

View Membership Information