Traffic will be rerouted May 31 as the DOT continues to replace the iconic Bearskin Trail Bridge which crosses U.S. 51 in the town of Hazelhurst.
Michael Wendt is the DOT Project Supervisor and says they will be doing work that night where traffic will be detoured....
".....as of 9 p.m. that evening we'll be closing down that section of Highway 51. It will reopen on Wednesday, June 1 at 6:00 a.m. So we're talking about a 9 hour closure during the night time period. Traffic will be detoured...."
Traffic will be detoured around the bridge on U.S. 8 and Wisconsin 47. Wendt says they will be setting the new beams for the structure that night. He says they picked that night from data gathered from traffic surveys...
"....we picked Tuesday night, we had looked at the traffic projections over the past several years and Tuesday night was the lowest traffic volumes that would have the least impact....."
Wendt says there will be one other Monday-Tuesday closing later in the summer when the bridge structure will come down. The DOT says many over-sized trucks cannot haul loads through this section of US 51 because of the restrictions of the existing structure. More information is available at the state information website 511.wi.gov
