Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Thursday, January 03, 2008
Towns say little on Bliss Road repairs
 Andy Bakalars, assistant street superintendent and recycling coordinator with the City of La Crosse, talks on his cell phone Monday, Aug. 20, while checking the condition of Bliss Road. PETER THOMSON photo |
If La Crosse officials were looking Wednesday for some indication whether the towns of Shelby or Medary would pitch in to repair crumbling and closed Bliss Road, they didn’t get it.
At a special meeting at City Hall, Town of Shelby Chair-woman Lynnetta Kopp declined to comment Wednes-day until she can talk with her town board and residents.
“It’s a nice drive and everything, but is it worth fixing?” said Terry Houlihan, chairman of the town of Medary.
The city’s Board of Public Works thought so, endorsing $1.8 million in repairs — provided Shelby chips in.
The main route on Grandad Bluff has been closed since July after a massive landslide took out a 600-foot portion of the road. Heavy August rains caused further damage.
Johnsrud, who requested the meeting, said the surrounding communities have the most to lose or gain from the future of Bliss Road.
“It’s not the city that’s going to benefit,” he said. The towns, he said, have the potential to grow to the east, not La Crosse.
Those who live in the Arbor Hills residential area on Grandad Bluff said they support the fix. These Shelby homeowners rely on Bliss Road, and estimate restoring the route would save them 22 miles round-trip and more than $1,000 annually on gas.
“Part of the problem is we’re not all of Shelby,” said Arbor Hills resident Bruce Corning. “We’re just one little group on top of the bluff.”
They plan to lobby their town board when it meets Jan. 14 to contribute to the $1.8 million project.
City Public Works Assistant Director Tony Hutchens said the local share to repair Bliss Road could be $582,000. He predicted $600,000 would come from the Federal Highway Administration and $660,000 from state flood aid.
“It’s always been a high-maintenance road,” Hutchens said, noting the first failure was two years ago. But the most recent failures amount to a “catastrophe.”
A few of the bluff’s 10 eroded sites will require drilling steel columns and sheeting into the rock, and rock will be installed in others to slow the water flow down the bluffside.
“Personally, I think this thing is nothing but a money pit,” said Houlihan.
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