Pedestrian bridge in the Menomonee Valley

I was sorry to have missed the installation yesterday of the first section of the new pedestrian bridge that will connect Mitchell Park (home of the domes) with the Menomonee Valley and the Hank Aaron State Trail. I won't try to repeat what others - who were on the scene yesterday - have written. There are two good stories about it in WUWM news and the Bike Federation's blog.

I tried to make up for not being there yesterday by going to see the second section of the three-part bridge installed. Here are a few pictures.

This is the section that was installed yesterday. I liked the idea of having the domes as a backdrop for the scene, so I hiked down to this site from the west end of the new airlines yard park. Initially that seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately, today's work took longer than yesterday's. As the sun rose the light changed and made the scene less dramatic. Still, the action was fascinating enough.

Utilizing two cranes, the crew is positioning the second section of the bridge over the railroad tracks.

Bringing the new section in line to make the connection with the existing section.

The two sections now erected are connected, making a single span over the tracks.

The view through the two joined sections towards Mitchell Park.

The third section, to be installed tomorrow, will complete the connection with Mitchell Park, to the right in this picture. Eventually, when it is fully operational, an extension of the Hank Aaron State Trail will run through the new park and cross over this bridge. From that vantage point will be a panoramic view of the Valley and downtown Milwaukee beyond.

(Full disclosure: I am a member of the Friends of the Hank Aaron State Trail board of directors.)

Menomonee Valley in fog

The fog and the unseasonably balmy temps drew me outside this morning. I've always treasured days like today, surprise days, like unexpected gifts. Of course, "unseasonably warm" has taken on newly ominous significance in our post-Katrina and now post-Superstorm Sandy circumstances. Not to mention our own record-breaking drought.

Still, I enjoyed being out. I went to one of my usual haunts, the Menomonee Valley, to check on the progress of the Airline Yards Park. (To read about the groundbreaking of Milwaukee's newest park, check out my earlier post.)

Luck was with me. A crew was out spraying what I assume to be fertilizer, or perhaps a seed/fertilizer mix, on the new contoured slopes of the park.

The Menomonee River was lower than I can remember seeing it, except during the height of the drought this past summer! Much is revealed in the shallows of an undernourished urban river.

These last two shots are from the Hank Aaron State Trail, which runs through the Stormwater Park below the 35th Street Viaduct.

I've always loved how fog brings out the colors in the landscape - even the relatively monochromatic one we have in late autumn - or snowless winter.

Although I enjoyed my excursion, I do hope the springlike weather passes and we get some snow.