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ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Watertown Bridges
1894
Revised City Charter of
City of Watertown, 1894
SECTION 230 - Jurisdiction
of River and Bridges
All that part of Rock river within the boundaries of said city, shall
be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the said city and its council, and all
bridges over the said river, within the limits aforesaid, shall be under its
jurisdiction, and the mayor and council of said city are fully empowered to
build bridges over said river, remove obstructions and filth, and cause the
said river to be kept as clean and as pure as possible; and the said common
council shall have power to prevent the erection of buildings or structures of
any kind in or upon said river, and to prevent the repairing of any building or
structure of any kind now erected in and upon said river, within the limits of
said city. All buildings which are or
hereafter may be erected in or upon said river, and adjoining or communicating
with any bridge crossing said river, shall be liable to a special tax each
year, to be levied and expended under the direction of the common council, for
the purpose of insuring said bridge against loss or damage by fire, which said
sum so to be levied and expended, shall be fixed by the common council, and
shall be apportioned among the said buildings, respectively, according to the
proportionate risk that in the opinion of the common council each ought to
bear; provided, that the taxing of said buildings shall confer no right to
continue the same beyond the time for which the insurance may be effected.
1859
06 16 To the Mayor and Common Council: Your Committee of one has examined the city
bridges according to his instruction by the Council. Blanchard St. [Boughton] bridge is in good
passable condition but recommend booming the same to keep the logs from doing further
damage. Labaree [Second St] bridge to be
repaired by putting a stringer under center of sidewalk and properly secured to
keep the plank[s] in their place, also raising and securing one bent [warped
plank?] that has settled out of place.
Cady St. bridge [needs repair to its] long span by replacing 1 1/2 [inch
diameter?] rods in place of 7/8 now in, not being of suitable strength to
sustain the amount required. Yours
respectfully, S. J. Steele, Committee. WDT
09 01 Main
Street Bridge being repaired WD
1862
10 16 BRIDGES UNSAFE FOR FOOT TRAVEL?
The Common Council held a special meeting, pursuant to the call of the
Mayor, on October 8th, 1862.
The Mayor stated that the purpose for calling this special meeting was
to advise with the council in regard to a suit brought against the city by C.
Achtenhagen for the loss of his son who fell through the Second Street bridge and drowned, claiming
damages to the amount of $2,000.
On motion of Ald. Fischer, the Mayor was directed to employ legal
assistance to defend the suit.
The Mayor introduced the following resolution which was unanimously
adopted:
Resolved, That the Committee on Streets and Bridges be and they are
hereby directed to immediately examine the several bridges of the city across
Rock River, and if in their opinion any of them are unsafe for travel they are
directed to fence up the approaches to the same in a substantial manner and
also remove one tier of stringers on each bridge in order to prevent foot
travel. Provided that any bridge which,
in their opinion, can be made safe for twenty-five dollars, they shall order
the same repaired.
1899
02 08 It might not be out of order to call the
attention of the committee on streets and bridges to the wisdom of a thorough
overhauling of all the iron bridges in the city. The season is an unusually severe one, and
the dangers from contraction should be guarded against. WR
1904
Flood and ice jam in April swept away building on
middle of Main St. bridge
1909
01 01 Near drownings near Main St bridge
1914
TORNADO DAMAGES NORTH FOURTH STREET BRIDGE
The west
walk on North Fourth Street bridge was torn to pieces and hundreds of large
shade trees were torn from the roots.
1983
10 27 Bridge connecting Emmet and Market streets
proposed
1984
07 25 Plans to rehabilitate
the N Fourth Street bridge, resurface the N Water Street bridge
2007
08 10 LOCAL COUNTIES HAVE OBSOLETE OR DEFICIENT BRIDGES
Almost
30 bridges in Dodge and Jefferson counties have been rated as either
functionally obsolete or structurally deficient by inspectors, according to the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
A total of 18 bridges in Dodge County are either functionally obsolete
or structurally deficient, while 11 in Jefferson County share that same
classification.
Of
the 11 functionally obsolete or structurally deficient bridges in Jefferson
County, three of them are in Watertown.
The Main Street bridge over the Rock River is considered structurally
deficient and the South Church Street bridge over the Rock River and the
Highway 16 bridge over Boughton Street are functionally obsolete.
The
Main Street bridge, which was built in 1930, had an average daily traffic count
of 14,280 vehicles per day in 2003, the last time the DOT did a traffic study
on the structure.
A
bridge is labeled as structurally deficient it means the structure has some
elements needing corrective action, but it is not necessarily unsafe for
traffic. Structurally deficient means
the bridge was not necessarily built to today's standards or there may be
something wrong with it that is causing some of the ratings to go down. WDT
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin