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Battle brewing over North Road bridge

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Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

North Road Bridge in Delavan Township is deteriorated and closed because it doesn't pass inspection.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Wood that frames the structure of the North Road Bridge is badly deteriorated.

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

The wooden railings of the bridge are rotting and broken.

DARIEN TOWNSHIP — One side wants to re-open part of North Road for public safety and convenience.

The other wants to close part of the road for public safety.

In the middle is a very old, wooden bridge.

In the fall of 2007, town of Darien officials closed the North Road Bridge because the deck was damaged, town Chairman Cecil Logterman said.

The bridge crosses a stream that flows into Turtle Creek. Just to the north of the bridge is a busy Wisconsin & Southern Railroad line.

Earlier this month, Wisconsin & Southern petitioned to have the crossing closed permanently, said Ken Lucht, community development manager for the railroad company.

That’s not in the town’s best interest, Logterman said.

The Office of the Commissioner of Railroads soon will host a public hearing on the matter, although the hearing has not been scheduled.

The town will hold an informational meeting about the bridge Wednesday, July 15.

Taking ownership

The town of Darien since 2007 has been interested in taking ownership of the bridge and fixing it, Logterman said.

The Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission owns the bridge, said Amy Seeboth, the commission’s administrator. The commission is a group of local government officials who are in charge of preserving the rail and making sure it fits the needs of both residents and rail operators, Seeboth said.

The ownership of the bridge is clear, but lines are blurred when it comes to who is responsible for upkeep.

Logterman said the railroad is responsible for bridge maintenance because the bridge is in railroad right of way.

But Lucht said that might not be the case. Because the railroad doesn’t use the bridge, it has no reason or ability to inspect it, Lucht said.

“We don’t know how to inspect it,” Lucht said. “The maintenance authority is still unconfirmed as far as we understand it.”

A third official said the town and the railroad both could be responsible.

Frank Huntington is supervisor of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Rail Projects and Property Management Unit.

The paperwork documenting the bridge’s ownership history is not thorough, Huntington said.

Without a clear paper trail, officials use what they can to figure out who’s responsible.

“It looks like railroad structure. It’s in railroad property,” Huntington said about the North Road Bridge.

But the town has a greater interest in fixing the bridge. That could get the project done sooner and relieve the railroad of an unwanted burden, Huntington said.

“That’s better for everybody,” he said.

Movement to open

North Road is a quiet country road. Even Logterman admits it isn’t highly traveled.

But it is a major artery for residents of the unincorporated community of Allens Grove, Logterman said.

Residents of Darien and Clinton—and the townships in between—use North Road as an alternative to Interstate 43, Highway 14 or County X, Logterman said.

“It puts a burden on a lot of people,” Logterman said about the bridge closure.

Town officials have talked about replacing the bridge with a culvert. That could cost between $86,000 and $125,000, Logterman said.

The project could qualify for the Local Bridge Improvement Program, which would use federal funds for much of the project.

But funds for bridge repairs in the current cycle have been used up. The town would have to wait until 2010 to apply, Logterman said.

The town tried to obtain the title to the bridge. But then the railroad petitioned to close the crossing, he said.

“If it wasn’t in the railroad right of way, we’d have had it done three weeks ago,” Logterman said. “It’s the politics of it all. They put a big stop sign in front of what we wanted to do.”

Movement to close

Drivers seem to have adapted to a closed North Road Bridge, Lucht said.

That’s good for the railroad, he said.

Train frequency has increased 18 percent in two years, Lucht said. Wisconsin & Southern predicts the frequency will increase by another 25 percent, he said.

Twice a day, trains run over North Road between Janesville and Chicago. In addition, local delivery trains use that section of the railroad for a staging area when they get ready to switch onto a spur to Darien, Delavan and Elkhorn, Lucht said.

It gets tricky, because the trains can’t block a crossing for very long, Lucht said.

“If there wasn’t a crossing there, it would be much better for our operations,” Lucht said.