Green Bay bridges get annual spring cleaning

GREEN BAY - Every year, heavily traveled bridges in the state are forced to close for a day-long spring cleaning.

“We wash basically the entire bridge,” said Jim McDowell who is an engineering specialist for Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation.

The DOT has city and county workers take a day to clean a year's worth of buildup, including road salt and bird droppings. The most difficult part of the task might be picking a day to close the bridge. The DOT chose Sunday for the Mason Street Bridge in Green Bay. It was the day after the Ray Nitschke Bridge was closed and cleaned.

“Sunday's a lower time for traffic,” said McDowell. “Less inconvenience to the public than during the week. We don't impact business as much.”

It still caused problems for real estate agent Bill Doyle. He was trying to maneuver his way through the city between open houses.

“It's always frustrating,” said Doyle. “Especially with 172 the way it’s been lately.”

The DOT says it had to take into consideration the construction on Highway 172 when picking a day to clean the Mason Street Bridge. That's because it says since the construction started on Highway 172 in February, there's been an average of 1,000 more vehicles driving over the Mason Street Bridge, per hour.

“We wanted to make sure we closed it down during the weekend, so it didn't impact the work week traffic,” said McDowell.

In years past, the DOT would only close bridges for cleanings on the less traveled Sundays. Tight budgets are now forcing bridges to close on other days. City and county workers get paid double time on Sundays, so bridge closings during the week help save money. However, the Mason Street cleaning had to remain on a Sunday this year because of the Highway 172 construction.

“We do this rain or shine,” said McDowell. “Just getting everything cleaned up and ready to go for another season is what we're out here for.”

The Walnut Street bridge in downtown Green Bay will be closed on Tuesday, April 27th for its spring cleaning.