Wisconsin’s Most Important Bridge Is Rarely Discussed

High Rise Bridge. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.

Milwaukee is home to an impressive portfolio of bridges that range from the elegant to the essential. Some, like the Lake Park pedestrian bridges, the Marsupial Bridge, the North Avenue Dam Footbridge, and the 6th Street Bridges are elegant and picturesque. Others, like the Hoan Bridge or the Wisconsin Avenue Viaduct, may not be as beautiful but are vital arteries that keep the city moving. Milwaukee has also lost a number of beautiful bridges like those that once crossed the Milwaukee River at Capitol Drive and North Avenue.

Left unmentioned is the High Rise Bridge, a linchpin of the region’s transportation system, the most heavily used in the state by vehicular volume and one that gets little attention and even less affection.

The High Rise Bridge, sometimes known as the Valley Bridge, spans the Menomonee Valley, Milwaukee’s historically marshy floodplain of the Menomonee River turned industrial hub of tanneries, foundries, rail yards, and shipping facilities.

Between 1878 and 1933, four key viaduct sites were established across the Menomonee Valley. Those viaducts became vital connections between Milwaukee’s North and South Sides carrying traffic over the bustling industrial valley.

Between 1945 and 1953, personal vehicle ownership in the City of Milwaukee increased by 61% while traffic volumes doubled. The mass adoption of personal vehicles in this short window of time led to significant strain on those increasingly old and limited Valley crossings and other city roadways.

In 1946, a concept of a high-capacity expressway bridge over the Menomonee Valley was first proposed by the City to address the growing congestion and aging structures. The new expressway was to run on a 16th Street alignment between Burleigh and Oklahoma with a bridge spanning the Valley. A marginally less destructive plan to the urban fabric was released in 1949 which more closely mirrored the alignment that was ultimately adopted. In 1951, the City hired traffic consultant Amman & Whitney, which proposed a 20.4-mile expressway system expected to cost $150 million. In 1952, its plan was approved by the Milwaukee Common Council and Mayor Frank Zeidler and adopted as a framework for regional expressway construction.

Limited financial resources were a major impediment to making these grand plans a reality.

In 1948 and 1953, Milwaukee voters approved two bond measures totaling $8 million in order to commence regional expressway construction. Progress was slow and challenging, so in 1954, Milwaukee County assumed responsibility for the process and created the Milwaukee County Expressway Commission to oversee planning and construction. In 1956, with the creation of the Federal Interstate Highway System, the county’s plan became eligible for a 90% federal construction subsidy, making the grand plans of the commission financially feasible. Construction on limited access highways began in lower cost environs on the edges of the city, along existing rights-of-way and in older industrial areas.

Work finally began on the High Rise Bridge and Marquette Interchange in 1964, 18 years after first being proposed, at great physical and cultural cost to the city.

The interchange and bridge alone cost $30 million to complete and entailed the demolition of hundreds of homes, the original Red Arrow Park, multiple multistory warehouses and the beautiful First Methodist Church. Tory Hill, a bustling if ramshackle neighborhood that had seen better days, was fully eradicated in order to build the interchange.

Construction also devastated neighborhoods to the south of the bridge to Holt Avenue where the North-South freeway had its temporary terminus.

The period from 1959 to 1971 proved to be some of the most painful and destructive years to the neighborhoods that lay in the path of the interstate system’s grand plans with 6,300 housing units demolished and 20,000 residents displaced.

The project was a marvel, the largest transportation project in Wisconsin history at the time of its completion. It took four years for the massive construction project to be completed, with the High Rise Bridge and associated interchange opening to traffic shortly before Christmas 1968.

Upon completion, the High Rise Bridge became the busiest bridge in the state, a title it has retained since its opening. It radically reshaped the physical form of the city and regional traffic patterns. Traffic increasingly funneled onto the bridge and into the interstate highway system as the region’s physical footprint expanded and a suburban exodus took root.

The High Rise Bridge was designed and engineered by Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff (HNTB) and was the winner of the Wisconsin Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award in 1969. That was effectively the last time the bridge or the interstate highway system in Milwaukee received any accolades and marked the pinnacle of the region’s highway expansion period.

Additional build out of the system largely stalled out following the completion of the High Rise Bridge. Opposition materialized through the early 70s as the astounding cost and devastation the system inflicted on the urban fabric came into clearer view. Plans for a Downtown Loop, the Park West Expressway and the Stadium Expressway South failed to materialize. Stalled construction rendered the Hoan Bridge “the bridge to nowhere” until 1977 when a southern entrance to the structure was finally completed.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), the High Rise Bridge carries an average of 148,000 vehicles per day as of 2025, making it the state’s most heavily used bridge by vehicle volume. The bridge carries nearly four times the number of vehicles as the Hoan Bridge, a bridge that carries only an average of 43,900 vehicles per day as of 2025 (the bridge was projected to carry 100,000 vehicles a day at the time of its opening).

While the High Rise Bridge is the one effectively doing the heavy lifting, it’s the Hoan that has found a niche base of committed fans. It has been beautified with fresh paint, become a silhouette on many Milwaukee-branded items and is now illuminated in the evenings thanks to an impassioned campaign.

The lack of attention to the High Rise Bridge is probably due to its less attractive design and location. The design team at HNTB opted for functional beam and pier design for the structure.

The High Rise Bridge ranges in width from 168 feet  above Bruce Street, widening to 203 feet as it approaches the Marquette Interchange to the north.

The bridge ranges from two to four reinforced concrete piers holding between eight and fourteen I-beam steel girder spans. Denim and wheat are the subtle colors of the bridge which match that of the northerly Marquette Interchange. Beyond its painted girders, the bridge is devoid of any decorative or noteworthy design or lighting schemes. Its finest trait is its height — 110 feet above street level and offering beautiful east facing views of the city.

The High Rise Bridge’s superstructure currently has a National Bridge Inventory (NBI) rating of 6, or fair. The deck, which was redone in 1989, is a 7, or good. Improvements to the deck were again made in 2013 and 2018.

WisDOT projects that in 2037, the bridge will be in need of major reconstruction or rehabilitation. But it’s never too soon to start the conversation about what such a monumental investment will deliver.

For such an important and visible span over the Valley and a prominent physical presence, what if instead of a forgettable vehicle-only beam bridge, there stood a stunning multimodal structure?

As Milwaukee’s most critical and unremarkable bridge nears its natural life expectancy in the decade ahead, the region should think critically about what its replacement should be. In the meantime, a nice name or some lights could help!

Photos

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