Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Highway M Bridge Replacement Project replaced a three-span steel girder bridge located directly downstream from Mead Lake, which is controlled by a dam. Heavy rain events and rapid snow melting would often cause lake levels to rise significantly, flooding the bridge deck and making the bridge unsafe and impassable to vehicular traffic. If closed due to high water, the local detour on town roads is 6 miles, and a 24-mile detour for truck traffic. 

The $2.83 million project installed a new seven-span concrete slab bridge and raised the road profile as much as 4.5 feet. With improved freeboard and capacity during times of heavy river flows, the new bridge has yet to be flooded. This was a local roads project, in which federal funding – some provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – covered 80 percent of the cost, with the remaining 20 percent being provided by local sponsor Clark County. The new bridge also serves a wide variety of travelers in the area – local commuters, farmers, loggers, truckers, construction workers, and recreational users.