MONROE - Bike riders soon will be able to follow the Badger State Trail all the way through Monroe.
Steve Johnston, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-Green County work unit manager, received word Thursday that the project to install handrails on a Badger State Trail bridge over Eighth Street in Monroe has been approved by the state Department of Administration.
"Code numbers have been applied, which means bills can be processed for payment," Johnston said. The project is fully funded.
DOA delegated DNR engineers to draw up the specifications for the contract.
Johnston said local contractors have already been asking about submitting bids for the project. DNR needs three bids from three different contractors.
Once the contract is awarded, "we'll get it done as soon as possible," Johnston said.
The absence of handrails led the DNR to close the bridge to bike traffic with barricades two days before Memorial Day for safety reasons. There are no handrails on the bridge to prevent a tumble from the steep edge of the trail onto Eighth Street below.
Some bicyclists and hikers have been using the bridge at their own risk, disregarding posted notices and even moving the barricades aside to clear passage across the bridge.
Other trail users go around the bridge, which requires them to trespass onto private property, or actually to use a beaten path down the steep bank onto Eighth Street.
Some users have simply turned around (see a letter to the editor on Page A4 today).
Johnston had hoped the rails would be up by the end of July. But the project submission got hung up, because it arrived during the fiscal change of the year, he said.
The project required DOA engineers to survey the project, rather than DNR.
The DOA oversees every other department in the state government, and "every penny (of DNR funds) goes through them," Johnston said.
Starting in 2006, when DNR took control of the Badger State Trail, "we wanted to put in hand rails," Johnston said.
But at the same time, the City of Monroe was planning to redo Eighth Street, and DNR decided the handrail would not be needed.
However, for the past two years funding for the city's Eighth Street reconstruction project has not come through for several reasons, including historical building preservation and lack of state grant funding.
DNR kept postponing installation of the handrails, because they were being told "any day now" Monroe would have the funds to start the project, Johnston said.
Steve Johnston, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-Green County work unit manager, received word Thursday that the project to install handrails on a Badger State Trail bridge over Eighth Street in Monroe has been approved by the state Department of Administration.
"Code numbers have been applied, which means bills can be processed for payment," Johnston said. The project is fully funded.
DOA delegated DNR engineers to draw up the specifications for the contract.
Johnston said local contractors have already been asking about submitting bids for the project. DNR needs three bids from three different contractors.
Once the contract is awarded, "we'll get it done as soon as possible," Johnston said.
The absence of handrails led the DNR to close the bridge to bike traffic with barricades two days before Memorial Day for safety reasons. There are no handrails on the bridge to prevent a tumble from the steep edge of the trail onto Eighth Street below.
Some bicyclists and hikers have been using the bridge at their own risk, disregarding posted notices and even moving the barricades aside to clear passage across the bridge.
Other trail users go around the bridge, which requires them to trespass onto private property, or actually to use a beaten path down the steep bank onto Eighth Street.
Some users have simply turned around (see a letter to the editor on Page A4 today).
Johnston had hoped the rails would be up by the end of July. But the project submission got hung up, because it arrived during the fiscal change of the year, he said.
The project required DOA engineers to survey the project, rather than DNR.
The DOA oversees every other department in the state government, and "every penny (of DNR funds) goes through them," Johnston said.
Starting in 2006, when DNR took control of the Badger State Trail, "we wanted to put in hand rails," Johnston said.
But at the same time, the City of Monroe was planning to redo Eighth Street, and DNR decided the handrail would not be needed.
However, for the past two years funding for the city's Eighth Street reconstruction project has not come through for several reasons, including historical building preservation and lack of state grant funding.
DNR kept postponing installation of the handrails, because they were being told "any day now" Monroe would have the funds to start the project, Johnston said.