USCG to discuss Change to…

The U.S. Coast Guard will host a public open house on April 16th about a proposed schedule change to the Stillwater Lift Bridge. >>> DETAILS <<<

They plan on dumping $12 million into that eye sore to make it a pedestrian and biking bridge…..What a waste, I’m sure that rusty old pile of useless steel and concrete could go away with about $50 G’s in explosives…..another waste of T.P. money

IF it is a ped bridge will they still lift it for boats?
That is an ideal bridge location. I would support a new or updated bridge right there in addition to the big new one.
I dont think it will be a great idea shutting down that passage that has existed for so long but you cannot keep running autos over the existing bridge until it colapses and someone dies.

Mike – Here is the plan as shown in their webpage:

Traffic impacts
Vehicle traffic that currently travels on the Stillwater Lift Bridge will be transferred to the new St. Croix Crossing bridge in the fall of 2016. At that time, the Stillwater Lift Bridge will be converted to a bicycle/pedestrian facility.

The bridge will still go up and down to accommodate river traffic just like it does now – the only real change is that there will be 19 lifts throughout the day instead of the 21 lifts now. So it is a minor change – just a reduction of 2 lifts.

When you look at the whole bicycle/pedestrian plan it is going to have a significant impact on downtown Stillwater. In my opinion closing the Lift Bridge to vehicle traffic and making it available as a bicycle/pedestrian trail is going to draw many of the Stillwater residents downtown. Right now a lot of Stillwater residents avoid the downtown – the vehicle traffic is terrible. The new bridge is going to create a whole new atmosphere downtown and being able to stroll the riverfront and walk across the bridge and over the river will be an exceptional welcoming experience to Stillwater. I personally am really looking forward to it. I’ve lived in Stillwater for 37 years – I know that I will take advantage of the new opportunities a riverfront trail system will offer. It is only 5 minutes away from where I live – be a nice way to spend a summer evening strolling through Lowell Park on the St Croix.

I personally think the upgrades to the Lift Bridge is money well spent. It will support bicycle and pedestrian traffic and insure river traffic is maintained. I’ll use the bridge from the river and on the trail – I’m glad to see my tax dollars at work there.

The new bridge will have viewing decks and sidewalks\bike trails which will be a much better view than the current bridge. I think instead of wasting taxpayers dollars on an old rusty pile of steel and eroded concrete they spend $50-100K on explosives and blow that eyesore out of exsistence.

The state seriously has much better things to spend 12 million on like ROADS or new bridges elsewhere rather an old broke down bridge that will render itself completely useless.

Where are they going to bike on the other side? Isnt that just a huge steep hill? I don’t see many bikers taking on that hill.

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Where are they going to bike on the other side? Isnt that just a huge steep hill? I don’t see many bikers taking on that hill.

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Mike – I suppose you could go the other way round. Go over the new bridge first and then to Houlton, WI and down the steep hill into Stillwater. You better have good brakes. Could be a Kamikaze downhill run from the top of the hill to the lift bridge going that way too.

I think the bike route would be uphill either way you go from Stillwater but going up the Houton, WI hill would be a ball buster. The other way is still uphill but more of a long, shallower uphill I would think.

Going to be interesting to see how all the new changes will play out. Couple of other things I’ve wondered about with the bridge becoming a pedestrian/bicycle trail:

I’m wondering if they will let people fish from the Lift bridge once the vehicle traffic is gone. That should prove interesting with the high volume of boat traffic going under the Lift Bridge.

In the winter time that Houlton, WI hill could make for an interesting snow slide. If you could keep the sled on the road you could probably slide all the way across the bridge. I know somebody will try it if the snow conditions are right.

I live In New Richmond I drive this drive very often, I personally think that it is foolish to build a “walking/Biking” bridge….where on earth do they think people will go once they get to Houlton, The Nasty Stripe club, Or the amazing gas station? There is Truthfully nothing on that side of the river to spend 12 million dollars on…. I think that they want to preserve the bridge because it’s a part of History and its a Historical Land marker but I do not feel that putting money into it is going to benefit anything.
They are Building a new bridge to replace that bridge and spending millions on that bridge just to turn around and urine away more money….if they are going to Fix the lift bridge they shouldn’t have even started building a new one!

There will be a loop for people to ride their bikes or walk. That is where they will go.

As for fishing off the bridge You can do it now. I have never been kicked off.

Their are other projects going on along with the bridge costing millions. The overlook by my house was redone and supposed to be put back the way it used to be but I feel it was a poor job overall. No public input was used or listened too. Only time will tell the impacts of the bridge.

For those who haven’t been following closely…
The bike grade up the hill has been promoted as a gradual slope…though probably not the equal of the nearby new Grant trail on the Minnesota side..at max six per cent.
What keeps us gopher taxpayers scratching our noggins is that the early planners of this project brought in expensive out of state archeologists. They said not to run an improved crossing through the lift bridge area because a modern back-cut low-slope HIGHWAY would endanger three important historical sites….a late Stillwater sawmill property, with artifacts, deeded to the city across the river; the Koliner Park Legion beach also on the Wisconsin side, which no one now seems to want to revive even with Stillwater’s other beach shut down due to Amoebae; the old city-run Yellowstone Highway tourist camp, also with artifacts, an important part of our national defense highways system.
Well, the Valley lost one of its great old tourist trains, the Zepher, a marvelous river tugboat, the Cayuga, and recently the mayor has been mumbling about banning fishing off the liftbridge. Maybe all those owners of four thousand dollar bicycles will push the potato-putting biker rascals out and our “historic” town will actually benfit from public decisions for a change. A place that takes two years to paint a gazebo and joins a multi-million dollar transplant of a mattress rag shed can’t be expected to score on every shot, eh? Would we prefer to have the Houlton side turned back to nature, as some are proposing? How about it, St. Joe Township lakeshore owners? Get rid of the trailer court, the old outdoor theater and the redneck strip bar as well?