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The Cobban Bridge was closed in 2017 due to safety issues.

The new bridge at Cobban should be completed in October 2023.

Chippewa County’s Cobban Bridge is now being dismantled, and the bridge replacement project is set to begin soon.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation said in a media release that Gov. Tony Evers signed a $4.7 million contract with Sheet Piling Services, LLC of Custer to replace the Cobban Bridge on County Highway TT between Wisconsin Highway 178 and County Highway K.

Work on the project is scheduled to begin Aug. 8 and is scheduled to be completed in October 2023.

The Cobban Bridge has been a crossing over the Chippewa River for more than a century. A WisDOT 1998 Intensive Survey stated that the bridge was fabricated in 1908 at county expense. The Cobban Bridge was the oldest of four Pennsylvania truss bridges surviving on Wisconsin highways as of 1986.

It was developed specifically for long spans in 1875 by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The Pennsylvania truss was modified a decade later by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railways, which introduced intermediate horizontal struts to increase rigidity of the web.

The Cobban Bridge is historically significant as one of the most ambitious cases of bridge moving in Wisconsin.

Since metal truss bridges were designed to be easily transported and assembled, it is not surprising that several were moved from one location to another.

It is pretty remarkable that a small community funded and supervised the relocation of a structure its size, though.

The structure was originally located about 15 miles downstream, where it was known as the "Yellow River Bridge," presumably because its site was near the confluence of the Chippewa and Yellow rivers.

The Modern Steel Structural Steel Company of Waukesha served as both fabricator and contractor for the superstructure. In 1915, the Wisconsin-Minnesota Power and Light Company approached the Chippewa County Board of Commissioners with a plan to build a hydroelectric dam about 4 miles downstream of the bridge. Since the impounded waters would inundate the river crossing, the company proposed relocating the existing bridge superstructure.

In April 1916, after extended negotiations, the county finally approved the dam project, and the company agreed to build a completely new bridge. The decision attracted the attention of the small trading village of Cobban located about 15 miles upstream on the west bank of the Chippewa River.

Cobban had no bridge, the nearest crossings being about 5 miles north at Cornell and an equal distance south at Jim Falls. With the strong support of Cobban merchants, local voters in December 1916 agreed to pay the cost of dismantling the abandoned Knife River Bridge, sledding the structural steel to Cobban and reassembling the bridge at its present location.

The entire project was completed by 1919. L.G. Arnold, a professional contractor from Eau Claire, put in the new concrete substructure, while Cromby and Thailacker, a bridge-building firm from Milwaukee, supervised the steel work.

Although the village of Cobban has since vanished, the bridge remains as palpable evidence of its early commercial aspirations.

The structure is still recognized as a major landmark by local residents, whose campaign to commemorate the bridge resulted in the erection of an historical marker near the crossing in 1986.

County Highway Commissioner Brian Kelly made the call to close the Cobban Bridge in August 2017 due to safety concerns with the bridge’s fracture critical steel components. Bridge engineers from the Federal Highway Administration and WisDOT made the recommendation to close it.

WisDOT said the current project includes removing the existing structure, creating a temporary road to access the water, replacing asphalt roadway approaches on County Highway TT, replacing storm sewers, curbs and gutters, the barrier wall and pavement signs and markings, building a retaining wall, and erecting a five-span concrete bridge.

The new structure will have an overall length of 504 feet, and 50 feet of approach roadway will be reconstructed at both ends of the bridge.

WisDOT said County Highway TT and the bridge will be closed during construction. The shoulder and turn lane on Wisconsin Highway 178 at County Highway TT will also be closed.

A navigational channel will be marked for water traffic on the Chippewa River, and the channel may shift during construction. The Old Abe State Trail will remain open during construction.

For some locals, the bridge dismantling is bittersweet.

“Many would like to see the historic structure preserved in some way, along with realizing a need for a safe bridge to facilitate emergency services, school bus transportation and tourism in our area,” said Marily Murphy who oversees the Save the Cobban Bridge Facebook page.

Murphy started the Facebook page in 2015 as a means of communicating updates to its followers, who in turn have shared fond memories and photos of the bridge.

“The iconic landmark will be missed by many,” Murphy said.

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The Cobban Bridge was closed in 2017 due to safety issues.

The new bridge at Cobban should be completed in October 2023.

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