Bridge Street Dam

The dam at Bridge Street (immediately above our listed put-in) has been a point of significant controversy. There is a mandate that all dams must be able to handle a 0.5% chance rain event ('500 year flood'). There was discussion about creating fish passage (as has been done with the dam at Thiensville), but in this instance, it was overridden by concern to keep the dam as a barrier on the Milwaukee River to spreading of VHS (viral hemorrhagic septicemia) and various invasive species. A binding referendum was passed (April 6, 2010) to preserve the Bridge Street dam until at least 2019. The dam has been modified to include a release gate, regulating flow only at times of high water.

While this dam has been run (as shown in photo), we do not recommend it. At moderate-to-high flows, the boil-line is well out from the dam, and would be difficult to escape. At lower flows (such as pictured), there are reportedly some places where the landing is quite shallow, thus piton potential is problematic.