Leo Frigo bridge in Green Bay reopens after report of suspicious bump; DOT engineers inspected span, found no problems
GREEN BAY - The Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge reopened Thursday night after a closure of more than two hours following a motorist's report of a suspicious bump.
Bridge engineers from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation have been at the bridge since about 5 p.m., six minutes after a motorist called Brown County 911 to report a suspicious bump near the span's crest on the southbound side.
The first examination of the span yielded nothing out of the ordinary, DOT spokesman Mark Kantola said. When a second engineer's inspection also found no problems, the department at 7:10 p.m. said it was safe to reopen.
The closure was done out of "an abundance of caution," Kantola said.
Green Bay Police responded to the call and notified the Brown County Highway Department and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Both had engineers inspecting the bridge, which carries Interstate 43 traffic across the river north of downtown Green Bay.
Traffic was detoured through the northern part of the city as drivers had to exit I-43 at North Webster Avenue on the east side and Atkinson Drive on the west.
The bridge is the same span that officials had to close from late September 2013 into early January 2014 when a 400-foot section of the road surface suddenly began sagging in the southbound lanes east of the river. The sagging was blamed on buckling of piers supporting part of the roadway.
DOT has had several precautionary closures of the span since the 2013 incident, Kantola said.
Repair and improvement of the bridge cost about $8.5 million.
Data from 2006 said the bridge serves almost 35,000 vehicles daily.
Contact Doug Schneider at (920) 431-8333, or DSchneid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PGDougSchneider.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Leo Frigo bridge in Green Bay closed after report of suspicious bump
