In September, the children’s song, London Bridges (falling down) cut a little too close to home for my taste. It looked like one of our bridges was falling down, too. Green Bay’s largest bridge, the Leo Frigo, (as in Frigo cheese) started to sag in places. They closed the bridge commonly called the Tower Drive Bridge (or as we call it in our family, the Big Blue Bridge). Further investigation showed the footings were settling in the sediment of the river. Yikes!
The Leo Frigo Bridge is one of our landmarks. A landmark second only to Lambeau Field, it’s frequently on postcards of Green Bay and live shots of the city. For many of us its always been a “spooky” bridge. A well-known suicide attempt leading to the book, Why I Jumped, as well as quieter ones, a major chain of crashes of 40 vehicles in 1990 and it’s overwhelming size (for Green Bay) all contribute to make it a potentially scary bridge. And then it started falling apart.
Because it’s a major traffic artery here, crews worked 24/7 to get it back in order. It reopened in early January. A few weeks ago we unexpectedly found ourselves going over it for the first time since the repairs. I was in my field trip mindset and was interested to see if we could tell a difference. My husband? Not so much. He just wanted to get over the damn bridge.
Some people drive out of their way to avoid driving over this ridge. Since the sagging, some say they won’t drive on it again. I’ve never been bothered by driving over the Leo Frigo Bridge. As a child I thought the bridge was a giant’s playground. It kind of looks like a jungle gym, right? When I had a sunroof in my car (and I wasn’t driving) I always liked to look up when passing right underneath the blue part . And the view of the Fox River and the bay of Green Bay from the bridge is fantastic…well, except for the pollution.
Whew! We survived our momentous First Crossing of the Big Blue Bridge. It’s no Brooklyn Bridge, but it’s ours.
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