The 83-year-old State Street Bridge will finally open to pedestrians and traffic today, Monday, at 11:30 a.m. on the corner of Old World 3rd and State Streets.
Mayor Tom Barrett, Alderman Robert Bauman, Dwayne Johnson, Department of Transportation Southeastern Region Director and Ken McNulty, representing Old World Third Street Association will speak at a ceremony emceed by Public Works City Engineer Jeff Polenske.
The bridge's rehabilitation began June 2005 and the opening of the bridge was delayed from its original date of November 2006 after the contractor, Zenith tech, Inc., discovered that some of the components of the bridge were in worse shape than anticipated.
This Downtown bascule bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. It was completed in 1924 and had remained in operation with few modifications until the rehabilitation began. It is significant because it is the oldest surviving bascule bridge in Milwaukee. A bascule bridge is a form of movable bridge in which one or two portions (called leaves) rotate up vertically to allow for the passage of river traffic.
City and state officials will next close the Kilbourn Bridge and do necessary repairs and maintanence.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
