Ayres was recently presented a Best Structure – Consultant/Municipality Award from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s 2023 Excellence in Highway Design program. The award was for the rehabilitation of the Robert Street Bridge over the Rock River in Fort Atkinson.

The project is a testament to hard work and cooperation among all those involved with the design process. Everyone involved – including WisDOT staff, design consultants, utilities, agencies, and the City of Fort Atkinson – worked together to efficiently deliver a quality project on an extremely accelerated schedule. Ayres shared award honors with project partner Kapur & Associates Inc.

Key Ayres personnel were John Baneck, project manager, and Brad Butteris, transportation engineer.

The project consisted of rehabilitating the deficient USH 12 eastbound bridge across the Rock River in Fort Atkinson. The structure was built in 1973 with minor miscellaneous repairs performed in 2017.

The project included replacing the existing bridge deck, expansion joints, and roadway approach slabs at each end of the bridge. Surface repairs were planned at each end of the existing concrete girders and on the abutments. The bridge roadway section was modified slightly to help improve pedestrian accommodations across the bridge. By slightly narrowing the traffic lanes, there was enough room to add an interior parapet wall to shield a 6-foot sidewalk along the east side of the bridge. This is an improvement over the previous condition of an unshielded 5-foot sidewalk.

The north end of the bridge is at a signalized intersection with STH 106/Riverside Drive. Improvements were made to the curb ramps, traffic signals, and lighting at the intersection. In addition, new decorative lighting was added to the rehabilitated bridge.

Originally the project had been slated for construction during the 2023 construction year. Due to the possibility of other work on Main Street in Fort Atkinson in 2023, it was decided that the Robert Street Bridge should be designed under an accelerated schedule to allow the project to be constructed during the 2022 construction year. Not only was the schedule shortened on the construction end, but the design schedule was also delayed while WisDOT and the City worked out preliminary design issues in the summer of 2021. After those design issues were resolved, the project design team was able to begin on the project in earnest in August 2021, and the final plans, specifications, and estimates completion date was set for January 1, 2022. Construction was completed by August 31, 2022.