$400,000 Pedestrian Bridge Feasibility Study Perplexes Residents: "Why Not Just Build It?"

WAUKESHA — The city's Common Council on Thursday approved a $400,000 contract to study whether it is feasible to build a pedestrian and multi-use trail bridge across the Waukesha Bypass near Fox River Parkway, a project that will not itself involve the construction of a bridge.

The study is funded largely by an 80% federal RAISE planning grant, with the city covering the remaining 20%, or $80,000, out of its Capital Improvement Program. City planners say the study will take 18 months and will examine environmental impact, traffic patterns, soil conditions, and structural design options before any construction contract can be issued.

On Nextdoor, where the announcement was posted Friday morning by the city's communications office, the reaction was swift and, in several cases, identical in wording to reactions posted by other residents.

"If you're going to spend the money, just build the bridge."

— Nextdoor commenter, 56, Fox River Parkway area

The Study Behind The Study

Diane Kowalczyk, a project engineer with the city's Department of Public Works, said Friday that the federal government requires an environmental review and preliminary design work before it will release funds for actual construction, and that this requirement exists independent of anything the city might personally prefer to do instead.

"We understand the instinct," Kowalczyk said. "Believe me, if we could just show up with a bridge, we would. The federal government does not work that way, and neither, generally, does bridge construction."

Kowalczyk noted that the study will produce, among other things, a determination of where exactly the bridge would go, how tall it would need to be to clear Bypass traffic, and what it would be made of, none of which the city currently knows. She said the $400,000 figure includes geotechnical borings, a traffic count, a public comment period, and renderings of at least three bridge concepts.

Residents Weigh In

By Sunday, the Nextdoor thread had accumulated 61 comments, of which city staff estimated roughly a third proposed some version of skipping the study entirely. One commenter suggested the city "just Google how other cities built their bridges." Another offered to personally weld something over the weekend, and specified he had access to a truck.

Councilman Gary Puchalski, reached Monday, said he sympathized with the frustration but noted that the alternative, an unstudied bridge, was not actually available as an option under the terms of the grant. "Nobody on the council woke up wanting an 18-month study," Puchalski said. "We woke up wanting a bridge. This is what wanting a bridge looks like at this stage."

Puchalski added that he had personally explained the grant requirements to four separate residents at the Piggly Wiggly on Sunday, unprompted, after being recognized in the produce section.

What Happens Next

The feasibility study is expected to conclude in early 2028, at which point the city will seek a separate construction grant, itself subject to its own review period, for the bridge the study will have determined is feasible. City officials declined to speculate on a construction timeline beyond that.

Bob Krueger, the retired DPW supervisor and occasional opinion contributor to this paper, offered a longer view. "I've seen roads studied for longer than they took to build," Krueger said. "This is Thursday's version of a phenomenon we've had my whole career. The bridge isn't behind schedule. It doesn't have a schedule yet. That's the whole point of the $400,000."

As of press time, the stretch of the Bypass near Fox River Parkway remained un-crossable by foot, exactly as it has been since the Bypass was built, and exactly as it is expected to remain for the duration of the study designed to determine how to change that.