MILWAUKEE — Thousands of people cross bridges daily in Milwaukee and don’t think much of it.
After a man fell to his death on the Kilbourn Ave. bridge in August, the I-Team started looking into bridge safety. We found there are features missing from the cameras on these bridges.
77-year-old Richard Dujardin was visiting Milwaukee with his wife from Rhode Island. The Kilbourn Ave. bridge opened while Dujardin was walking over it.
Jay Urban is the attorney representing Dujardin’s family. He says what happened was preventable. He is on a mission to make sure it never happens again.
“We don’t even tell people, our residents or people from out of town, that these bridges move. There’s not even a sign that says that. There’s only a sign down on one of them at South KK (Kinnickinnic),” said Urban.
As of Wednesday morning, the only signage we could see on the Kilbourn Ave. bridge, the site of the fatal fall, were messages to plow drivers telling them to lift their blades when they cross.
“If you care so much about your city plows, you should care about your citizens,” Urban said.
An investigation is ongoing into Dujardin’s death. Urban says all witnesses he’s talked to say Dujardin was past the safety gates when the bridge started to rise.
This is not the first time someone reported an issue with a bridge. Weeks after Dujardin’s death, Urban sent the I-Team video of the State St. bridge. The video was recorded on Sept. 16. It shows the driver stopped at one end with warning lights flashing, while the safety gate arm is down on the other side.
Despite that, cars continued to drive around the arm and over the bridge, not knowing if it could rise at any time.
A spokesperson with Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works (DPW) sent the I-Team the incident report. It shows the bridge’s remote panel had to be reset before it began working properly again.
In 2018, a tour boat with Milwaukee Boat Line was hit by a different bridge along the Milwaukee River. Owner Jake Chianelli says no one was hurt, but he says the city admitted operator error, and a settlement was reached.
The I-Team could not independently confirm this information. Chianelli invited our team out on one of his boats to show us how the bridges operate.
There are 21 bridges that need to be opened to allow boats to get out to Lake Michigan and back. Six operators are in control of operating all of them, meaning about half are operated remotely.
“The first actual operator we’re going to encounter in a bridge house is going to be on Wisconsin Ave.,” said Chianelli.
The boat captain uses a marine radio to communicate to bridge operators placed along the river. The remote bridge operators rely on cameras along the bridges to show them if it’s safe to open.
But the I-Team learned those cameras do not record video and they do not have sound.
In a Public Works Committee meeting on Sept. 8, Ald. Bob Bauman questioned DPW Interim Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke about Dujardin’s death.
Watch that portion of the exchange below.
Right now, there is no proof either of those factors played a role in the deadly fall.
In that same meeting, DPW said it is currently looking into what it would cost the city to have an operator at every bridge moving forward.
As an experienced boater, Chianelli says 99% of the time the bridges operate smoothly. But he says someone losing their life due to an error is unacceptable.
“I’d like to see the operators get some help. There’s a lot of women and men on those bridges that are very resourceful. They can communicate, they work with us, they work with their supervisors. We do also,” said Chianelli.
DPW also said it is looking into adding signs around the bridge to warn pedestrians the bridges move, and possibly in the future, adding motion-sensor cameras.
As far as attorney Urban is concerned, safety should not have a price tag.
“We’re all taxpayers so I understand we have to be efficient. You have to start with safety. If you start with safety, then everything else follows. Once it’s safe enough then you’re okay. Anything could have helped,” said Urban.
The I-Team reached out to the Mayor’s Office for an interview to talk about improvements that can be made to bridge operations. We were told no comment due to pending litigation. Attorney Urban said the family is not looking to settle in court. They want to see safety changes made.