Hoan Bridge - Milwaukee, WI - Arch Bridges on Waymarking.com

From Wikipedia.org

The Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge is a tied arch bridge that connects Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin to the Lake Freeway across the Milwaukee River inlet. Originally called the Harbor Bridge, it was renamed after Daniel Hoan, one of the longest serving mayors of Milwaukee.

It was designed by the firm Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff and in 1975 won the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Long Span Bridge Award. Although construction on the bridge lasted briefly from 1970 until 1972, it did not open to traffic until 1977 due to public backlash against the planned Milwaukee County freeway system. This halted completion of the connecting roadways and led to the Hoan Bridge being known as "The Bridge to Nowhere."

Its unfinished state was used as the site of the car chase scene in the movie The Blues Brothers. Eventually, the bridge connections were completed in September 1998, when the Lake Parkway (Wisconsin Highway 794) opened between the bridge's southernmost exit, connecting the bridge between the Bay View neighborhood and the northeast part of Mitchell Field.

The Hoan Bridge was temporarily closed on December 13, 2000 after two of the three support beams of the lakefront span failed, causing the north-bound lanes to buckle and sag by several feet and leaving the span in a near collapsed state. No motorists were injured when the bridge failed. On December 28, 2000 engineers used explosives to remove the damaged section. The damaged span was restricted to one lane in each direction for eight months while it was reconstructed, and the remainder of the bridge underwent extensive rehabilitation and retrofitting. Two lanes in each direction were reintroduced on October 10, 2001, and the bridge was fully reopened the following month.[3] According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel at the time of its failure the six lanes of the bridge had carried an average of only 36,590 cars per day.[4] A total of $16 million was spent to demolish and replace the damaged section and retrofit the remainder of the bridge.[5]

link for the video of the repair: (visit link)

Experts believe that improperly designed welds between the lower lateral bracing and floorbeams along with a period of extreme cold and snow led to the partial collapse of the Hoan Bridge

Length of bridge: 1.9 miles Height of bridge: 120 ft What type of traffic does this bridge support?: Motor Vehicles What kind of gap does this bridge cross?: River and sewage treatment plant Date constructed: 1977 Is the bridge still in service for its original purpose?: Yes Name of road or trail the bridge services: I-794 Location: Milwaukee, WI

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/16/2018 Hack1of2 visited it