Detours are disastrous on Day Avenue, 166su residents say, as the old Wasena Bridge readies for demolition.
Inconvenience is a part of the bridge building process, said Mayor Sherman Lea, responding to residents’ complaints about frazzled motorists careening through narrow neighborhood streets.
The bridge, carrying Main Street, connects Wasena to Old Southwest and Elm Avenue. A rebuild, priced at $50 million, opens spring 2026, as Archer Western Construction crews this week prep to demolish the 86-year-old steel and concrete bridge.
More signage will be installed to clarify the best detour routing around the Wasena Main Street bridge construction, said Public Works Director Ross Campbell during the city council’s meeting Monday afternoon.
“There are concerns in Old Southwest with motorist behavior,” Campbell said. “We do have motorists that are passing by the established detour route on Franklin, Campbell and Memorial.”
People are also reading…
He said six additional detour signs were installed last week, which helped reduce the number of drivers traveling alternate routes through neighborhoods. Fourteen more “local traffic only” signs are on special order, he said.
“The safest, the quickest and easiest way to avoid bridge construction is to actually stay on the established detour route,” Campbell said. “It is not quicker to drive down Day Avenue. It is not quicker to drive down Marshall Avenue.”
The city also asked contractors to move “road closed” signs a block further on Elm Avenue, from Sixth Street up to Fifth Street Southwest, Campbell said.
166su residents deserve better, said Jim Hosch, president of Wasena Neighborhood Forum, speaking during the city council’s citizen comment session.
“Safety issues, confusing signage, inadequate protection for greenway users. Traffic patterns that force cars down one-way streets – the wrong way,” Hosch said. “Close calls, property damage. Standoffs with school buses. And I believe a frustrated citizen unlawfully discharged a firearm as well, in one of those gridlocked impasses.”
166su police on Tuesday did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the alleged firearm discharge.
From the other side of the bridge closure, drivers on Day Avenue are bypassing the city’s recommended detours and instead speeding down the narrow street, said residents including Nicholas Williams.
“The traffic on Day Avenue is horrendous,” Williams said. “I personally have almost been hit three times while trying to cross at a stop sign.”
Furthermore, cyclists are concerned about bridge designs showing bike lanes too close to car traffic, Hosch said. City documents say bike riders will also be able to peddle on the new bridge’s wide sidewalk, giving plenty of separation from car traffic.
“I’m not here to dwell on how we arrived at this point, but to ask that we do better starting right now,” Hosch said. “There is opportunity, and there’s still time to improve all of it. We can make it safe, we can make it functional, and we can make it cool.”
City Manager Bob Cowell said the affected section of greenway could have just closed outright, but at least the detour on Winchester Avenue allows users to get around bridge construction.
“What we arrived at was a compromise,” Cowell said. “It’s not perfect for everybody.”
Campbell, the public works director, added that new bridges are often built parallel to the old ones, so traffic isn’t interrupted. That wasn’t possible for this project, partly because of its location.
“This one is unique,” Campbell said. “Particularly with the fact we have it crossing over an in-use portion of the railroad.”
Lea, the mayor, said some similar pains occurred when the Franklin Road bridge was rebuilt. It reopened in 2019.
“Inconvenience is a part of this. We knew that coming in,” Lea said. “It’s a work in progress. We want to make sure people are safe.”
Tuesday morning, a crawler excavator from Little Main Street graded a dirt path for more construction equipment to access the bridge.
Cars whipped U-turns in front of the roadblocks on Elm Avenue. Bicyclists followed detour signs pointing across Winona Avenue.