Why does this bridge on the Oak Leaf Trail in Greenfield look like it was built for cars?

Bob Dohr, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·4 min read
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Observant users of the Oak Leaf Trail in Greenfield may have noticed something a bit odd near where the trail crosses the Root River between Highway 100 and South 106th Street.

There’s a bike and pedestrian bridge that crosses the Root River in that location. Nothing amiss there.

But there’s another bridge, just to the east, that crosses, well, not much of anything. It’s quite robust, almost as if it were built for cars.

That’s because it was.

We'll get to that, but let's back up first.

More:What the Wisconsin? The story behind Highway 100, aka Lovers Lane and Mayfair Road

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Reader wondered why bridge was built ‘in the middle of a field’ without a road leading to it

A reader posed the bridge question to What the Wisconsin? — where reporters take on questions about our state, our communities and the people in them.

Jerry Gazinski of Pewaukee said in the 1960s, when he was young, a bridge was “built in the middle of a field” in Greenfield east of Highway 100.

“I have always wondered why this bridge was built without a road leading to it,” Gazinski said. “It is just a bridge in the middle of a field, and it is there to this day.”

Some initial checking revealed that the bridge is indeed still there, and it's currently utilized by the Oak Leaf Trail, which goes over it.

The bridge is wide, with raised sidewalks and wooden guardrails along each side.

An aerial view looking to the east shows two bridges along the Oak Leaf Trail near the Root River in Greenfield. The large bridge near the center of the image was built around 1970 and designed for a road project that was later abandoned. A smaller bridge, constructed when the trail was put in, crosses the Root River and can be seen to the west of the large bridge.

But why was it built, many years before the Oak Leaf Trail was constructed there, and seemingly designed for cars and trucks, not bikers and pedestrians?

Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke didn’t know the answer offhand. Neither did the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which said it didn't have much info because it's not on a state highway.

The Wisconsin Historical Society and Milwaukee County Historical Society also had little information about the span.

But Milwaukee County Parks, which oversees the Oak Leaf Trail, finally had the answer.

A bridge is seen on the Oak Leaf Trail between Highway 100 and South 106th Street in Greenfield on Thursday, March 9, 2023.  The bridge was originally built for vehicle traffic around 1970, with plans to have the Root River Parkway run between Cold Spring Road to the south and 108th Street.
A bridge is seen on the Oak Leaf Trail between Highway 100 and South 106th Street in Greenfield on Thursday, March 9, 2023. The bridge was originally built for vehicle traffic around 1970, with plans to have the Root River Parkway run between Cold Spring Road to the south and 108th Street.

Bridge was built for a planned extension of the Root River Parkway

The land was acquired by the parks department in 1960 and the bridge was constructed around 1970, said Sarah Toomsen, Milwaukee County Parks manager of planning & development.

Toomsen said "a little bit of investigation" at the Parks Administration Office turned up Oct. 26, 1970, correspondence between the Milwaukee County Park Commission and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Commission that referenced plans to have the Root River Parkway run between Cold Spring Road and 108th Street.

The letter talks about two sets of plans, one for “Root River Parkway Drive from West Coldspring Road to South 108th Street,” and the other for the Root River Parkway bridge.

“The bridge has been built,” the letter states.

Presumably the plan would have entailed rerouting the Root River to flow under the newly constructed bridge. But that never happened.

The parkway currently ends at Layton Avenue, a bit further to the south.

Why the road project was abandoned isn't known.

Oak Leaf Trail construction in the late 1980s made use of the bridge

Milwaukee County Parks constructed the Oak Leaf Trail through the area in the late 1980s, including building the smaller bike and pedestrian bridge that goes over the Root River just to the west of the bigger bridge, Toomsen said.

Toomsen surmised that it would have made sense to route the Oak Leaf Trail over the big bridge when the trail was put in.

“My guess is that the alignment of the bridge existed, and the trail was therefore lined up with it when it was developed,” she said.

For Neitzke, mayor and longtime Greenfield resident, the backstory of the bridge was welcome information.

“I never knew,” Neitzke said in an email. “It’s a great bit of history."

Contact Bob Dohr at 262-361-9140 or bob.dohr@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BobDohr1.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Oak Leaf Trail bridge looks like it was built for cars