$50 million for new bridge over Fox River included in Wisconsin DOT budget

DE PERE - Advocates for the South Bridge Connector route have dreamed for decades of faster commutes from Appleton, less congestion at downtown De Pere's roundabout and an easier connection between Interstates 41 and 43.

That vision took its latest step toward reality on Tuesday when it was announced the state's next biennial budget will include $50 million to construct a bridge across the Fox River — the South Bridge Connector project's key component.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation Secretary Craig Thompson joined Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach, Republican state Sens. Andre Jacque and Robert Cowles, and local business leaders to announce Gov. Tony Evers included $50 million in general obligation bonds for the project in the proposed 2023-25 budget.

The bonds would give Brown County the funds to construct the bridge portion of the South Bridge Connector route from State 57 on the east side of the Fox River to County D, or Lost Dauphin Road, on the west side. The Wisconsin Legislature still must approve the budget before the county can tap the funds.

Still, Streckenbach called it a "huge deal" that shows the state is committed to continuing to fund the project. Paul Fontecchio, Brown County highway commissioner, said if the funding gets approved during deliberations next spring, it could set the entire South Bridge Connector project up for completion as early as 2029.

"It's been a long journey and ultimately, this is a great day for greater Green Bay, Brown County, city of De Pere, town of Lawrence, town of Ledgeview, village of Bellevue, town of Rockland. You name it, they're all impacted by this," Streckenbach said.

Brown County has sought since the 1960s to develop a South Bridge Connector highway corridor through De Pere, Bellevue, Ledgeview, Lawrence and Rockland. De Pere Mayor James Boyd noted he would have been 6 years old when the county first put a South Bridge plan on its books in 1968. Thompson noted the Green Bay Packers had just beaten the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.

“While the project has long been needed to grow the economy and give motorists more options, the project was not supported by previous administrations and the project languished," Thompson said in a media release. "Working closely with local officials and federal partners, we’ve made more progress in the last three and a half years than the last 30 on a project that will finally join growing Green Bay-area businesses and Interstate 41."

The route, approved in late 2020, would provide a bypass route that would broadly follow an east-to-west path from Monroe Road to Rockland Road, cross the Fox River west and follow Red Maple and Southbridge roads across I-41 before connecting to Packerland Drive and Scheuring Road.

The bridge funding is a major piece of the South Bridge Connector puzzle, but it is far from the first to fall into place. Brown County, De Pere and Lawrence allocated $1.2 million in September 2020 for engineering and design work along the proposed route and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., secured another $5 million in federal funds to continue design and engineering work along the route.

In October 2020, federal and state officials approved the proposed South Bridge route and WisDOT agreed to budget for and construct a new I-41 interchange as part of its upcoming plans to expand I-41 from Appleton to De Pere. Streckenbach said the interchange could cost $50 million, meaning the state would contribute about $100 million to the South Bridge Connector Route between the bridge and the interchange.

He said Brown County expects to match that investment with $30 million for road construction, to be funded via its recently extended 0.5% county sales tax. The county expects De Pere's road construction costs could be as much as $30 million while Ledgeview's could be $6 million and Lawrence's $4 million. That's about $170 million total, plus the work to extend utilities along the new route.

Bipartisan support awaits in Madison

Thompson noted Evers, a Democrat, supports including the bonding in the state budget while two local Republican state senators said they would push to keep the funding in the budget.

Still, Evers is up for reelection in November and recent polls show he holds a slight lead over his Republican challenger Tim Michels.

State Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, said the South Bridge Connector funding has bipartisan support in the Legislature and that he intends to make it a priority during budget deliberations next year.

“We are on a path to completion,” Jacque told the crowd of elected officials, government employees and business leaders.

State Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Allouez, said he “will fight for this” to remain in the budget.

Why do De Pere and southern Brown County need the South Bridge Connector?

County and local officials say the South Bridge Connector project has become a necessity in the last decade as congestion builds up at the Claude Allouez Bridge through downtown De Pere, the current southernmost Fox River crossing in Brown County.

Streckenbach also said it would spur economic development, citing Ledgeview’s plans to prepare sites near the County GV-County X interchange for development once this project begins.

Infinity Machine and Engineering Corp., a manufacturer of autonomous forklifts, conveying systems and packaging systems for the tissue industry, hosted Tuesday’s announcement and also provides an example of both potential benefits of the South Bridge Connector.

Brad LaPierre, Infinity’s production manager, noted the South Bridge Connector would provide workers, suppliers and shippers quicker access to its plant on American Boulevard, less than a mile south of the proposed new road. He said workers would be able to avoid congestion in downtown De Pere while the route’s inclusion of a new I-41 interchange makes the commute from the Fox Valley to Infinity more attractive, too.

“We’ve got people in the valley (for whom) the interchange at 41 is going to cut off 5 minutes either way for people coming from that direction,” LaPierre said. “Retaining people, finding new people to come here, it increases the radius we can reach without increasing their time to get here. That’s always a deciding factor in trying to get people to want to make a change.”

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Wisconsin DOT budgets $50M for new De Pere bridge over Fox River