ALLOUEZ (NBC 26) — Heads up to anyone traveling southbound from Green Bay through Allouez to De Pere: you may need to find a new route later this month.
Riverside Drive southbound will close for two weeks, starting February 17.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says this is so they can fix the Highway 172 overpass at Riverside.
These repairs are needed after an oversized truck hit the underside of the overpass back in early December.
"It's not a new structure, but since 2017, we have had a string of overheight strikes," said Brady Rades, WISDOT's Northeast Region bridge program manager. "This [strike in December was] the first one in the southbound direction. But all of those cases have been oversized, overweight loads, off route of where they were supposed to be. So, unfortunate situations."
Rades ensures drivers that the bridge is still safe to drive under — just due for a long-term fix called heat-straightening, which will take roughly two weeks.
"The traffic will remain open [northbound]," he said. "This is kind of just a follow-up repair, again, to put things back the way they were. There's no structural issue."
WISDOT says it will direct drivers to cross the Fox River on 172, get off at Ashland, and come back across the Fox to get off on Riverside — rather than rerouting drivers to other Village of Allouez roads like Webster Avenue.
"Our main focus is for heavy truck traffic — big turning movements," Rades said. "So when we set up our detours, we really focus on trying to keep them on the state system."
Highway 172 itself will remain open during the repairs.
